Finland has flatly rejected a reported Russia demand that it leave NATO as part of possible conditions for a peace agreement in Ukraine. Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkänen has declared that his country’s membership in the alliance is not and cannot be the subject of negotiations.
Such issues are in no way a matter of negotiation. Russia knows that. It is absolutely scandalous to suggest such a thing, Häkänen told reporters Friday.
Finland, which shares a 1,340km border with Russia, joined NATO in 2023, abandoning its previous policy of non-military occupation. This historic change resulted from Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine.
German Journal Bild A Russian proposal, presented during talks held this week in Abu Dhabi, reported on several important territorial and security requirements. According to the report, Moscow sought to maintain its occupied Ukrainian territories, to take control of other areas, as well as to demilitarize the ports of Ukraine.
In the same proposal, according to BildRussia also sought to remove NATO bases from the Baltic countries and withdraw Finland from the military alliance.
In exchange, Moscow had reportedly proposed withdrawing its nuclear weapons from Belarus and giving up the deployment of medium-range missiles to the state.
However, it is still not clear which of these proposals would be supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin, following discussions among mediators.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that a new security framework for Europe after the war ended, proposed by Americans, could pose risks.
Russia certainly cannot make decisions on behalf of all societies that are NATO members, Zelensky told reporters Friday.
His statement was not a direct response to the requests reported by BildBut he came after the meeting he held Thursday in Dublin with US envoy Steve Whitoff and Jared Kouchner.
Zelensky has stressed that Putin’s intentions of changing borders in Europe pose a serious threat to the safety of the continent.
Putin’s desire to change borders in Europe is a fact. I’m sure this is part of his concept of reviewing security guarantees in Europe. This is dangerous because, in my opinion, such things lead to wars or escalations, Zelensky said.
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Source Layer: Signal
