Sanaa Marin also said her nation would have “security guarantees” from NATO only if it went from a partner to a member of the US-led alliance. Sweden is also on the verge of applying for NATO membership, with Marin saying it would be good if both countries made similar security choices in the future. The Finnish prime minister’s comments come days after a senior State Department official said the prospect of Finland and Sweden joining NATO was discussed by the military alliance’s foreign ministers in Brussels. Also this week, footage showed Russian military vehicles in Vyborg – near the country’s border with Finland. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:42 Russian military vehicles located near the border with Finland On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peshkov claimed that NATO “remains a tool of confrontation and its further expansion will not bring stability to the European continent.” Peshkov told Sky News a few days earlier that Russia should make its “western side more sophisticated in ensuring our security” if the two Scandinavian nations join NATO. Finland and Sweden are close partners in the 30-member alliance, but have avoided joining. Live updates on the war in Ukraine: Mariupol “will fall in a few hours” – as Russia tells Ukrainian politicians to “watch out” In a joint press conference with Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson in Stockholm on Wednesday, Ms Marin said things had changed since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February. However, he said the option to apply for NATO membership had to be carefully considered. “We must be prepared for any action by Russia,” Marin said. Image: Ms Marin says her government will decide whether to apply for NATO membership in a few weeks “The difference between being a partner and being a member is very clear and will remain so. There is no other way to have security guarantees than to prevent and jointly defend NATO as guaranteed by Article 5 of NATO,” he added. “I will not give any timeline for when we will make our decisions, but I think it will happen fairly quickly – within weeks and not months,” she said. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 2:57 Russia admits it has suffered “significant losses” The Finnish prime minister also said it was important to reach a consensus in her country, which shares a 1,300-kilometer (810-mile) border with Russia to the east. He said that the political parties will have internal talks in the parliament in the coming weeks. Public opinion in Finland has turned to NATO, with the latest poll by private broadcaster MTV showing 68% of respondents in favor of membership, with only 12% against. Follow the Daily Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker “Yes, I was against NATO membership. But today, I think it is a sensible choice,” said Ville Pohjonen, chief creative officer of a media company in the Finnish capital Helsinki. Antti Laulaja, a student, said: “Yes, for sure, I think Russia has shown its true face, so I think we need to join NATO.” A Finnish government’s White Paper on its foreign and security policy, released on Wednesday, said the Russian invasion had profoundly changed the security situation but made no recommendations on NATO membership. Finland and Sweden are both already involved in NATO exercises and crisis management initiatives, and are exchanging information with the alliance. The Swedish Prime Minister said that there were advantages and disadvantages to being a member of NATO, although the main advantage was the security of Article 5, according to which the alliance considers an attack on one member as an attack on everything.
