President Vladimir Putin told Finnish President Sauli Niinistö that joining the U.S.-European military alliance would be a 'mistake.'
President Vladimir Putin told Finnish President Sauli Niinistö that joining the U.S.-European military alliance would be a"mistake."The small portion of electricity supplied to Finland by Russia was cut off Saturday just hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Finnish counterpart directly that it would be a"mistake" for his country to join NATO.
"Putin," the Kremlin said,"stressed that rejecting the traditional policy of military neutrality would be wrong since there are no threats to Finland’s security. Such a change in the country’s foreign policy course could have a negative effect on Russia-Finland relations, which have been built over the course of many years in the spirit of neighborliness and partnership cooperation and have a mutually beneficial nature.
Earlier in the day, authorities in Finland confirmed the electricity supply from Russia—which makes up only about 10% of the nation's overall usage—had been choked off. "By joining NATO, Finland is throwing away whatever remote possibility exists of playing a mediating role between Russia and the West, not just to help bring about an end to the war in Ukraine, but at some point in the future to promote wider reconciliation,"Anatol Lieven, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute of Responsible Statecraft, on Friday.
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