Finland’s President, Sauli Niinisto on Thursday said his country would review its security policy to decide whether to join NATO or not.
The new review came just 18 months after the government completed its last assessment, taking on more urgency since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said there would be severe military and political consequences if Finland and Sweden opt to join NATO.
Many Finns have traditionally been wary of Russia, with which their Nordic country shares a 1,340 kilometres (830 miles) border and a history of two wars between 1939 and 1944, which cost Finland substantial territory, NAN reports.
However, speaking on the possibility of Finland joining the defence alliance, Niinisto told newsmen, “When alternatives and risks have been analysed, then it’s time for conclusions,’’
“We have safe solutions also for our future; we must review them carefully.
“Not with delay, but carefully,’’ Niinisto added.
He, however, declined to give a time frame for the process.
Meanwhile, Niinisto had met U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington and was due to hold a phone call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
He declined to say what he would say to Putin, who calls Russia’s actions a special military operation to disarm its neighbour and dislodge leaders it calls neo-Nazis.
Kyiv and its Western allies said this was a baseless pretext to invade a country of 44 million people.
