Antti Kaikkonen predicted to Peter Hultqvist that Finland would apply for NATO membership.
Sauna has not lost its position in politics, even if it is claimed otherwise. This is evident from Wednesday’s press release Jari Korkin from the book Towards an alliance – Antti Kaikkonen and the new position of the Finnish defense (Big Dipper). The book is the source Antti Kaikkonen diary from the NATO membership process.
After Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022, then Defense Minister Kaikkonen (center) and Sweden’s Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist (sd) intensified their communication. On March 14, Hultqvist was visiting Finland, and Kaikkonen invited him to the sauna.
“There was one more thing about the discovery that I wanted to tell Hultqvist. I thought it was possible that Finland would end up applying for NATO membership during the spring. And I continued that if that happens, it would be good if we could do it together with Sweden. Hultqvist was in a bit of a pain. I asked what Sweden will do if Finland ends up like this. He was left to consider options. After the discoveries, my own reason said that Sweden has no options. They will come at the same time, or soon after,” Kaikkonen wrote in his diary.
It became clear to Kaikkonen that the decision would not be easy for his colleague. Hultqvist was ready for almost any possible cooperation, even the Finnish-Swedish defense alliance, but not to join NATO.
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“Everyone started working in the same direction.”
My own Antti Kaikkonen describes his position as practical. “There was no single day when I decided to support NATO membership, but certainly 24.2. was important in that just as it was for the people of Finland”, he says.
Kaikkonen evaluates the president in the book Sauli Niinistön and the Prime Minister at the time Sanna Marini (sd) the government’s first actions immediately after the attack: “I think it was pretty clear in the foreign and security policy leadership that we are moving in the direction of NATO membership without anyone deciding on it.”
“Everyone started working in the same direction without any particular decision,” he says.
Kaikkonen continued to communicate with Sweden. On April 26, he noted in his diary that the wind had turned. Prime Minister and chairman of the Sdp Magdalena Andersson was already leaning towards membership.
Right after May Day, Kaikkonen met Hultqvist and wrote with satisfaction: “For the first time, he seemed a little more relaxed and liberated when we talked about NATO membership. Would he have finished his personal wrestling and was ready to move forward on the matter?”
A week the Nordic defense ministers were gathered and Kaikkonen revealed his and Finland’s position to his colleagues.
“Hultqvist was not as open, but it felt more and more clearly that he was accepting the situation,” Kaikkonen wrote on May 11.
The next day, President Niinistö and Prime Minister Marin, and shortly after them Defense Minister Kaikkonen and Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (vihr) publicly announced themselves as supporters of membership.
After a couple of days, Kaikkonen could state that the Finnish and Swedish applications would progress at the same pace. They were submitted to the Secretary General to Jens Stoltenberg 18 May 2022 in Brussels.
Last fall, Hultqvist left the position of Minister of Defense, and in June it was Kaikkonen’s turn to step aside. In July, Hultqvist came to the village of Kaikkosi in Tuusula. We fished, ate, remembered the past and “of course” had a sauna.
Jari Korkki: Towards an alliance – Antti Kaikkonen and the new position of the Finnish defense. Big Dipper. 251 pp.
Defense Ministers Antti Kaikkonen and Peter Hultqvist (left) visited the Vigilant Knife exercise in Lapland in August 2022. On the right, the commander of the Kainuu brigade, Brigadier General Manu Tuominen.
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