Finland's President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced their support for joining NATO on Thursday, per the president's website.
“NATO membership would strengthen Finland's security. As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance. Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay. We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days,” reads the joint statement.
Sweden and Finland are planning on applying for NATO membership together, Iltalehti и Expressen said in late April. This might happen on 17 or 18 May during Sauli Niinistö’s visit to Stockholm. The Finnish president believes that both Finland and Sweden will have made up their minds by that time.
The decision of the two Scandinavian countries was earlier commented by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s ex-president and current deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council. He said that “if these countries join NATO, Russia will simply have two more officially registered opponents.”
