- Title: Finland's PM says NATO membership is 'very unlikely' on her watch
- Date: 19th January 2022
- Summary: HELSINKI, FINLAND (JANUARY 19, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) DRONE VIEW OF HELSINKI HARBOUR HELSINKI CITY HALL FINNISH PRIME MINISTER'S RESIDENCE FINNISH PRIME MINISTER SANNA MARIN BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) FINNISH PRIME MINISTER, SANNA MARIN, SAYING: "Of course, Finland makes its own decisions when it comes to foreign policy and security. Nobody can influence us, not the United States, not Russia, not anyone else. We will make our decisions by ourselves as we have been doing so far. I think Finland is appreciated when it comes to speaking with Russia. I think other countries can see that we have functional relationships. Of course Russia is a neighbouring country so we have to work together in many issues, environmental issues, climate issues, economic issues and also for example transportation, so there are many fields we have to work with Russia and we have built good diplomatic ways of handling them and speaking with Russia." MARIN'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FINNISH PRIME MINISTER, SANNA MARIN, SAYING: "There isn't any acute threat towards Finland but the situation in Ukraine is very worrying. And if Russia would extend its military actions in Russia, I think we should have a very strong act also from the EU's side. There would be severe acts from EU. And I think the most important thing is that EU stands in solidarity with Ukraine and that we are also strong together and that we will work together on this situation." MARIN'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FINNISH PRIME MINISTER, SANNA MARIN, SAYING: "It think it's also very important to find diplomatic ways to solve this situation and this is why we are discussing with Russia as EU. That's why many other countries are discussing with Russia. We are trying to find diplomatic ways out of this situation, but if Russia would act aggressively and making its actions on Ukraine even more aggressive, then we would act as well and very hard." MARIN BEING INTERVIEWED NOTES ON TABLE (SOUNDBITE)(English) FINNISH PRIME MINISTER, SANNA MARIN, SAYING: "We have the possibility to act very fast and very strong and this is the message that we will send to Russia." MARIN BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE)(English) FINNISH PRIME MINISTER, SANNA MARIN, SAYING: JOURNALIST ASKING: "Should Finland step up its cooperation with NATO or is it doing so? Has something changed?" MARIN SAYING: "We are a country that is a partner with NATO, our military forces are in many ways NATO... connected with the NATO forces so of course we have many things in common and we're working with NATO but we're not a member state and we haven't discussed about applying to NATO." JOURNALIST ASKING: "Do you see that happening in your term in the next coming years?" (SOUNDBITE)(English) FINNISH PRIME MINISTER SANNA MARIN, SAYING: "This is very unlikely I would say. We have very fresh and new papers on foreign security policy and we have decided that we have the opportunity, the possibility to become a NATO member state but we're not applying and we're not discussing of applying but we have that possibility in the future." FINNISH FLAG ON BUILDING PARLIAMENT BUILDING PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
- Embargoed: 2nd February 2022 17:25
- Keywords: Finland NATO Russia Sanna Marin Ukraine
- Location: HELSINKI, FINLAND
- City: HELSINKI, FINLAND
- Country: Finland
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Europe,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001FUWIX53
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Finland does not plan to join NATO in the near future but is ready to stand with its European allies and United States by imposing tough sanctions on Russia if it attacks Ukraine, Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday (January 19).
"There isn't any acute threat towards Finland but the situation in Ukraine is very worrying. And if Russia would extend its military actions in Russia, I think we should have a very strong act also from the EU's side. There would be severe acts from EU," Marin told Reuters in an interview
Marin also said it is "very unlikely" that Finland would apply for a NATO membership during her term of office.
The Nordic country shares a 1,340 km (833 mile) border and a difficult history with Russia and the Soviet Union, including clashing during World War Two, but has opted to only cooperate with the Western security alliance instead of joining it.
On Tuesday (January 18), U.S. President Joe Biden called Finland's President Sauli Niinisto to speak with him for a second time in a month to discuss "the importance of Finland's close defense partnership with the United States and with NATO", Biden's office wrote in a statement.
Marin was tight-lipped about the discussions but said she believed other countries appreciated the fact that Finland had long maintained "functional" relationships with Russia.
Marin said Finland remained firm on its previous stance that it has the right to join NATO one day if it so decides.
Finland in December opted for F-35 fighter jets in line with its defence forces materials policy that is based on new military equipment being compatible with NATO countries.
Finland would need to demonstrate substantial public support for joining NATO to be granted membership.
In a recent poll by Finland's largest daily Helsingin Sanomat, 28% of respondents wanted Finland to join NATO, 42% were against and the rest were unsure, meaning an 8 percentage point rise in the share of those in favour from the last poll at the end of 2019.
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