Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain visited Finland on Wednesday evening to sign a joint statement.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain visited Finland to meet President Sauli Niinistö on Wednesday evening with a clear purpose: the United Kingdom stands ready to assist Finland in its endeavors by all means necessary.
“We confirmed that, should either country suffer a disaster or an attack, the United Kingdom and Finland will, upon request from the affected country, assist each other in a variety of ways, which may include military means.”
These are straight quotes from a joint statement by the United Kingdom and Finland signed by Prime Minister Johnson and President Niinistö on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Johnson arrived at the Presidential Palace from Sweden, where he and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson signed a similar statement.
“We’ve seen the end of the post-Cold War period, and the invasion of Ukraine sadly has opened a new chapter,” Prime Minister Johnson said at the press conference in Helsinki.
President Niinistö was asked by the British media doesn’t Finland think that a possible NATO membership could be seen as a provocative gesture against Russian President Vladimir Putin?
“You have to keep in mind that this is not the first time we are discussing about NATO and not the first time we are discussing NATO with Russia,” President Niinistö said.
Niinistö continued by saying that he is familiar with the Russian rhetoric that membership would cause countersteps.
“What they are, that is for us to guess.”
Niinistö continued by saying that he will explain the matter a bit deeper.
“So far, Russia has said that having a non-aligned Finland and Sweden, that will stabilize the Baltic Sea. But then, at the end of last year, they stated that Finland and Sweden can’t join NATO. They demanded that NATO doesn’t take new members. They changed their own picture by that. Because we have with Sweden been non-aligned from our own will. But by stating that Russia actually stated that you don’t have your own will here. And that is a huge change.”
Niinistö continued by referring to the war in Ukraine that started on February 24 and is still ongoing.
“They are ready to attack a neighboring country,” Niinistö said.
“If that would be the case that we join NATO, my response would be that ‘you caused this.’”; look in the mirror.
