Putin considers end of Finnish military neutrality a "mistake"
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Russia's President tells his Finnish counterpart that a change in its political orientation will have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations.
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Russia's President Vladimir Putin and his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto (Kremlin.ru)
The Kremlin said on Saturday that Russia's President Vladimir Putin told his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto that it would be a mistake for Finland to scrap its military neutrality.
"Putin stressed that the end of the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake since there is no threat to Finland's security," the Kremlin said in a statement after a phone call between the two leaders.
Finland is expected to announce its bid to enter the alliance on Sunday.
The statement also read that this kind of change in Helsinki's political orientation can have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations, which were developed over years "in a spirit of good neighborliness and cooperation between partners."
Both presidents also discussed developments regarding the war in Ukraine. Putin also informed Niinisto of the status of the Russian-Ukrainian talks, which he said were suspended by Kiev "which expresses no interest in constructive and serious dialogue."
On Saturday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that Russia harbors no hostile intentions against Finland or Sweden.
"All this fits into the all-too-common ‘search for an enemy’, which entails, in practical political [and] military sense, a demonization of Russia, assigning to [Russia] hostile intentions against some countries, while Russia absolutely cannot be suspected of such intentions, " the diplomat said.
Grushko admitted that Moscow has some questions in mind regarding the future of non-nuclear status in Finland and Sweden, both of which will be joining NATO very soon. Joining the alliance will require them to abandon the non-nuclear status.
