HELSINKI — Finnish President Sauli Niinisto spoke
with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday about the Nordic
country's application for NATO membership, expected to be announced this
weekend, his office said.
اضافة اعلان
The phone call, which was "initiated by
Finland... was direct and straightforward and it was conducted without
aggravations. Avoiding tensions was considered important," Niinisto was
quoted as saying in a statement by his office.
But the Kremlin responded by saying that
Putin viewed any end to Finland's military neutrality as a "mistake."
"Putin stressed that the end of the
traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake since there is no
threat to Finland's security," it said in a statement.
"Such a change in the country's
political orientation can have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations
developed over years in a spirit of good neighborliness and cooperation between
partners," the Kremlin added.
Finland is expected to officially announce
its NATO membership bid on Sunday.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto
underlined that it was "very important that we communicate with our
neighbor", even if "we don't ask any permission for our political
steps".
The minister was speaking from Berlin, where
he was seeking to remove a potential barrier to his country's accession plans —
Turkey.
Ukraine invasion swung opinion
Accusing Finland and Sweden of harboring
"terrorist organizations", Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had
said he did "not have a positive opinion" on their membership bids.
Arriving for talks in Berlin with NATO
counterparts as well as Haavisto and Sweden's foreign minister, Turkey's Mevlut
Cavusoglu reiterated the accusations against the Nordic countries.
But he did signal readiness for discussions.
"A big majority of the Turkish people
are against the membership of those countries who are supporting PKK terrorist
organization ... but these are the issues that we need to talk of course with
our NATO allies as well as these countries," he said.
The PKK is the Kurdistan Workers' Party,
which has been outlawed in Turkey and designated a terrorist organization in
the UK, EU, and the US.
Haavisto meanwhile said he was
"confident that in the end we will find a solution and Finland (and)
Sweden will become members of NATO".
Moscow's February 24 invasion of Ukraine has
swung political and public opinion in Finland and neighboring Sweden in favour
of NATO membership as a deterrent against Russian aggression.
Both countries have long cooperated with the
Western military alliance and are expected to be able to join it quickly.
Sweden, like Finland traditionally
non-aligned, is also expected to announce its own NATO membership bid in the
coming days.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly
said they would be welcomed "with open arms".
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said
Saturday that her country was "prepared for different types of
action" from Moscow.
"But there is no information indicating
Russia will initiate military action against Finland," she said.
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