Vladimir Putin warned his Finnish counterpart Saturday that relations between the two neighbors could be 'negatively affected' if Finland follows through with plans to apply for NATO membership.
The Kremlin's press service said in a statement that Putin told Sauli Niinisto that Finland's abandonment"of its traditional policy of military neutrality would be an error since there are no threats to Finland's security."
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Talent and Success Educational Foundation via videoconference at the Sirius Educational Center for Gifted Children in Sochi, Russia, Wednesday, May 11, 2022.The response came after Niinisto told Putin in a phone conversation that the militarily non-aligned Nordic country that has a complex history with its huge eastern neighbor"will decide to apply for NATO membership in the coming days.
"The discussion was straightforward and unambiguous and was held without exaggeration. Avoiding tensions was considered important," said Niinisto, Finland's president since 2012 and one of a handful of Western leaders who has been in regular dialogue with Putin over the past decade.
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