FINNISH-ING THE JOB: Finland's ambassador reveals warning given to Russia before Ukraine invasion
"In my opinion, the NATO membership is an act of peace, it's about war never returning to Finland," Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin told Parliament."Should Sweden be the only country in the Baltic Sea region that was not a member of NATO, we would be in a very vulnerable position, we can't rule out that Russia would then increase pressure on Sweden."
Unlike most pending applications to NATO, the ambassador says Finland would not be a drain financially to the alliance. Ambassador Hautela spent his formative years as a young diplomat in Ukraine - he is fluent in Russian and Ukrainian."I basically fell in love with the place." He recalls a particular evening in early 2000 when one Friday evening at a restaurant on a main street in Kyiv, he wasinto a restaurant with other Ukrainians."Suddenly, there was a silence. Total silence. A man came in with the Russian Ministry of Interior camouflage uniform. So he had a Russian flag and a Russian emblem.
"They were farmers, just ordinary people. They were very patriotic," Hautela said."One of the myths in Russia about Finland is that we used to have snipers in trees." The Ambassador still has his grandfather's diary describing how the Finnish citizens armed to the teeth waited in the forests to attack the invading Russian troops.
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