Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin this morning said that Finland must apply to join the Nato military alliance “without delay”.
“Nato membership would strengthen Finland’s security. As a member of Nato, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance. Finland must apply for Nato membership without delay,” Niinisto and Marin said in a joint statement. “We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days.”
Earlier, former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says that the time for Sweden and Finland to join the military alliance is now, while Russian President Vladimir Putin is "preoccupied" with Ukraine.
"As far as Finland and Sweden are concerned, I think there's a window of opportunity for [the] two countries to join, exactly now because Putin is preoccupied elsewhere. He can't do anything about it," Rasmussen told CNBC on Saturday.