“Such things are not up for discussion”: Finland rejects Russia’s demands to withdraw from NATO
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Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkinen has rejected calls for the country to leave NATO and reduce the alliance’s military presence on its eastern flank. He said that European NATO countries would not agree to limit their actions in the interests of Russia.
This is reported by Bloomberg .
Häkkinen’s statement came in response to a publication by the German newspaper Bild about a new European security architecture allegedly proposed by Russia. According to the publication, the proposals included Finland’s withdrawal from NATO and the withdrawal of the Alliance’s military bases from the Baltic states.
“Russia wants European NATO countries to impose restrictions on their own activities in Russia’s interests, and such things are non-negotiable,” Häkkinen said.
He also called the very proposals for Finland’s withdrawal from the Alliance unacceptable. According to the minister, Russia is testing the willingness of the United States and Europe to yield to its demands and is trying to expand its claims beyond the war against Ukraine to the entire European security system.
“We clearly see that Russia is not serious about peace negotiations, but rather is expanding its demands,” Häkkinen said.
At the same time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Russia had demanded Finland’s withdrawal from NATO. According to him, no such demand was made and the issue was not part of the discussions.
Finland joined NATO in 2023, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, the country has guarded more than half of the Alliance’s land border with Russia.
It was previously reported that Russia wants to achieve Finland’s withdrawal from NATO and a ban on the deployment of military bases of the Alliance in the Baltic states . Moscow put forward such demands as part of proposals for the formation of a new security architecture in Europe. At the same time, the published conditions do not constitute an agreed peace agreement.
Recall that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated: Russia does not consider verbal assurances about NATO’s non-expansion to the East sufficient. According to him, such agreements should be officially enshrined in a document.
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