Finland likely to apply for NATO membership on May 18, avers Foreign Minister

In the latest development, Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto stated that his country may apply for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership on Wednesday, May 18. "Our permanent representative to NATO in Brussels will do this [apply] possibly on Wednesday. If talks with NATO begin, they will be taken care of by a delegation led by the foreign minister and the defence minister," he told the Aftonbladet newspaper, as reported by the TASS news agency. As per reports, Finland’s parliament is expected to hold discussions on the country's NATO membership prospects on May 16. 

Notably, the discussion over Finland's probable NATO membership had gathered momentum in early April. The majority of political leaders in the country have upheld the idea of joining the military alliance. Meanwhile, the Finnish envoy to NATO, Klaus Korhonen stated that the country's decision to join the alliance stems from the "very drastic change in the security environment amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine." He went on to say that Finland has a "strong national defence," which will provide the intergovernmental military alliance with additional safety. 

Finland's refusal of traditional policy of military neutrality would be a "mistake": Putin

Earlier on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinistö. During the discussion, Putin stated that Finland's refusal of the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a "mistake" since there are no significant threats to its security. Meanwhile, Finland's President Niinistö informed Putin that the Nordic country will decide on its NATO membership in the coming days. "President Niinistö told President Putin how fundamentally the Russian demands in late 2021 aiming at preventing countries from joining NATO and Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 have altered the security environment of Finland," Niinistö's office said in a statement, CNN reported.

About NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a 30-member intergovernmental military alliance. The organisation was established in the aftermath of World War II to implement the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed on April 4, 1949. The alliance is a collective security arrangement in which NATO's independent member states commit to defending each other in the event of an external attack. Since the end of the Cold War, the alliance has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa, among other places.