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Against the background of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Finland refuses military neutrality and begins rapprochement with NATO. Russia has repeatedly threatened official Helsinki, but they assure that they are ready for threats from the Russian Federation.

Finland believes that cooperation with NATO will help counter threats

Minister of Foreign Affairs Affairs of Finland Pekka Haavisto said that his country is ready for all sorts of threats from Russia if it joins NATO.

He said that Finland has a strong army, in which 280,000 reservists at once.

Finland does indeed have a fairly strong ordinary army. We have over 280,000 reservists, we have a conscription army, we have just invested in F-35 fighter jets, 60 of them are arriving in Finland, etc.,” the minister said.

Finnish Foreign Minister added that the country is taking good care of its national defense forces.

“But, of course, we live in peace, as we see from Russia's attack on Ukraine, in which new security threats also arise,” Haavisto said.

The Minister believes that cooperation with NATO will allow Finland to resist all these different threats.

Pekka Haavisto also explained why Finland changed its position on military neutrality and moved closer to NATO. According to him, the nature of Russia's attack on Ukraine changed Finland's position.

Finland may join NATO: in short

• Against the background of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, support for the course in NATO. At the end of March, a record 61% of citizens were in favor of the country's membership in the Alliance.
• Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said the country plans to accept an application to join NATO in the coming weeks. She also said that the course of Helsinki was changed by the war in Ukraine.
• Together with Finland, Sweden began rapprochement with NATO. The country is ready to apply to join the North Atlantic Alliance this summer.