Finland’s Foreign Minister is optimistic that “sooner or later” Finland and Sweden will be members of NATO
Delegations from Finland and Sweden – who both formally applied for NATO membership last week – traveled to Turkey earlier this week for talks on NATO membership. All current NATO members must approve new members.
Haavisto, who did not take part in the talks, called it a “good meeting” and said it lasted five hours. Haavisto indicated that there are European and Finnish laws and policies in place that govern Finland’s actions in relation to Turkey’s main demands – the appointment of the PKK as a terrorist organization, the lifting of arms export controls, the extradition of Kurdish militants whom Turkey sees as terrorists. But Turkish Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said after the delegation’s visit that “if Turkey’s security problems are not addressed in concrete steps, the process can not move forward.”
Haavisto said that “there was an agreement to continue these discussions”, but a next round of talks has not yet been arranged.
“From our perspective, the timeframe is essential, as we are, of course, looking forward to the NATO Summit in Madrid,” which is at the end of June, “and we hope that the new members of the NATO Summit are welcomed, at least, and NATO’s open door. policy “would be confirmed, but it is of course up to each Member State that they can also influence the process”, he said.
The decision of Finland and Sweden to apply for NATO was a major shift caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Although Moscow suggested it take “retaliatory steps” in response, Haavisto told CNN they have not seen any incidents so far, reiterating “we expect nothing but we are prepared for anything.” He said that Finland was satisfied with the statements made by countries about security commitments in the current gray area between their NATO application and accession.
“Objectives” to ease sanctions against Russia for unlocking Ukraine’s ports
Haavisto said that he expected that the issues of energy and food safety would also come up in his meeting with Blinken on Friday.
“Our concern is also the blockade of maritime transport on the Black Sea coast, as this is linked to grain transport and grain trade and so on. And it is not good if Ukraine is a landlocked country as it is now.” he told CNN.
The Foreign Minister said that it was “out of the question” to ease Russian sanctions as a way of blocking the ports.
“I think the international community really should appeal for a safe transport route for agricultural products from Ukraine, as this is crucial for food security and food prices globally,” he told CNN.
Haavisto said it was difficult to predict how the war in Ukraine, which is now in its fourth month, could end, but said that Finland and Europe are focused on “helping Ukraine as much as possible so that any talks will come at any time. “occur, they will negotiate from the strongest possible position.”
“It is very difficult to see when there will be business as usual between Russia and Europe,” he added, noting that Russia must be investigated for the human rights violations and war crimes it has committed in Ukraine.
Asked if it could be business as usual if Putin remained in power, Haavisto said it was “difficult to say”.
“There are those who say that without a regime change you can not do anything, but also a regime change is something you can not do from the outside, it is of course something that Russia and the Russians can only do,” he said. Haavisto also noted “we must also be prepared for more risky scenarios, that when people talk about regime change, they do not know whether the regime will change for the better or for the worse”, such as a military takeover.
“And of course it is a country with nuclear weapons and chemical weapons and so on,” he added, saying it was the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis that the use of tactical nuclear weapons had been hinted at.
He said in Finland that “creates many worries.”
“We have a strong traditional army and a strong traditional military, but with this type of threat, you can not survive alone against that type of threat,” he said.