Finland’s parliament approves the country’s accession to NATO

New Delhi: The Finnish parliament approved the proposal to join NATO on Tuesday. Its session was broadcast on the legislative body’s website. Some 188 lawmakers voted for the accession, while eight voted against Finland applying for NATO membership.

The decision should be approved by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. Since the head of state is currently on an official visit to Sweden, it is expected that he will do so remotely. After his approval, the application will be submitted to NATO headquarters in Brussels together with the Swedish one.

As the Kremlin press service reported, during a phone conversation with his Finnish counterpart on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Finland’s rejection of its traditional policy of military neutrality was erroneous since there are no threats to its security. This change in the republic’s foreign policy may negatively impact bilateral relations which for many years have been built in the spirit of good-neighborliness and partner cooperation while being mutually beneficial, the press service stressed.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, however, said that the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) has for many years taken into account the territories of Finland and Sweden in its military plans for eastward expansion.

“Finland, Sweden, and other neutral countries have for years participated in NATO’s military exercises. NATO has taken its territories into account in planning its eastward movement. In this context, it apparently makes no difference anymore in connection with their admission to NATO. Moscow saw no reasons why Finland and Sweden should be worried about their security.” Lavrov said.

(Vinayak)