There is not much left of our relationship with Russia: Niinistö

President Sauli Niinistö on Tuesday said that there is not much left of Finland´s earlier relationship with Russia as the trust is gone.

“Under the prevailing circumstances, there is not much left of our earlier relationship with Russia. The trust is gone, and there are nothing in sight on which to base a new beginning,” he said at the Annual Meeting of Heads of Mission in Helsinki.

The President said that this is not the right time to build connections.

“On the contrary: we must very carefully reconsider any dependencies that could be used against us. Nothing must be left loose,” said Niinistö.

Speaking on the ongoing NATO membership process, the President said that Finland will stand by what was agreed with Sweden and Türkiye.

“The demands presented by Türkiye in May came very close to halting the progress of our entire NATO membership process. In Madrid, we eventually found a solution that enabled it to go forward. For its own part, Finland will stand by what was agreed with Sweden and Türkiye. We will do so in accordance with our own legislation and with international agreements,” he said.

He said that the discussion on closer security cooperation will continue with Türkiye and Sweden between officials before the turn of the month.

“Time will tell, when Türkiye will be ready to go forward with the national ratification. We still need patience,” he added.

He said that it has been only six months since Russia invaded Ukraine. In that time, Finland and Sweden have applied for NATO membership, and 23 countries out of 30 have already ratified our membership.

“The heavily criticised policy, often also referred to as the ‘NATO option’ – Finland maintaining an option to apply for NATO membership – has proven its usability. That is exactly the option we are now exercising. With hurry,” he added.

“We will not be members of NATO until the last ratification is finalised. But the position in which we find ourselves for the time being already strengthens our status considerably. One NATO country after another has confirmed for its part that they want Finland and Sweden as their allies,” he said.

He also said that namely, by no means does NATO membership mean that we could start neglecting own national defence. Just the opposite.

“Finland’s membership will double the border NATO currently shares with Russia. For both Finland and NATO, it is of utmost importance that Finland will continue to primarily take care of defending its own territory. Ensuring that the Nordic area will hold under any circumstances,” said the President.

Russia is now engaged in an illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. Finland’s position on the matter is crystal clear: we unequivocally condemn it.

“We oppose Russia’s actions by the means of sanctions we have imposed together with other EU Member States. Finland demands that all war crimes be investigated and those guilty of the crimes be held responsible,” he said.

People are now demanding a debate on how to arrange their future relationship with Russia, both in the EU and in Finland.

“There are a lot of Russian people living permanently in Finland, for family reasons alone. It is clear to us that we condemn Russia’s actions and those supporting them, but hatred is another matter. It has never generated anything good. We can defend our security and values firmly even without hatred,” he said.