Policy|Foreign policy
Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto says that President Niinistö’s visit to the United States comes at an important time. He believes the speeches to the United Nations ambassador to Finland, Finland, are based on “circulating news”, which was based on a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (green) says the president Sauli Niinistö meeting The President of the United States Joe Biden with Washington on Friday hitting an important moment.
“Of course, the moment is also extremely important for the bilateral relations between Finland and the United States, and of course because the United States is an important player in NATO,” Haavisto said, commenting on the rapid changes in foreign and security policy to journalists in Parliament on Thursday.
Haavisto did not comment further on the content of the visit. Its topics include Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the effects of the war on the European security order and bilateral co-operation between Finland and the United States.
Haavisto himself will attend the NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Brussels on Friday. Representatives from Sweden and the EU will also attend the meeting.
In this context, Haavisto was asked whether Finland now promotes NATO membership in any way.
Haavisto stated that NATO membership is an issue that has already been featured in Finland’s foreign and security policy report as a NATO option.
“It’s being debated, the citizens are debating it, the politicians are debating it. But I myself have said that when we are in the midst of such a crisis, we will go with the arrangements adopted in the previous foreign and security policy reports and the parliamentary response to it, and then look at what conclusions can be drawn after this crisis, ”he said.
Haavisto estimates that Finland’s NATO relationship may emerge at the meetings by asking Finland about the mood surrounding NATO membership after opinion polls show that support for membership is rising.
“It’s being asked, and we’ll talk about it.”
Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (Green) answered questions from the media in Parliament on 3 March.
Haavisto took over also on Thursday how the war in Ukraine has intensified cooperation between NATO and the EU.
He reminded that Finland had called for coordination between the two parties and emphasized, among other things, that close co-operation with NATO would also be taken into account in the context of the EU’s so-called strategic compass related to defense.
“There may have been a bit of such tension between the two organizations, and now it seems to have melted away in this situation. This is a good thing for Finland. ”
Haavisto also commented on the U.S. ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield speech to the General Assembly, which has caused confusion. In his speech to the General Assembly, he briefly mentioned the President of Russia Vladimir Putin threats to “attack” Finland and Sweden.
According to Haavisto, the comments to the UN ambassador are not related to any new information. He thought it was “circulating news” that was triggered by a speech by a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Spokesman Marija Zaharova has previously stated that the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO would have military and political consequences that would require retaliation from Russia.
“It has since been interpreted in many ways and it may have received a few such extreme forms of interpretation as well,” Haavisto said.
Already in the morning State Department had time to deny radio channel Eho Moskvy reported that Finland had received a new letter from Russia demanding security guarantees.
“In the morning for my next job, I asked where the letter was, and there was no letter,” Haavisto commented at the press conference.
We followed the Haavisto press conference moment by moment. Read the tracking here:
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