HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland should submit an application to join the NATO military alliance, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a joint statement on Thursday, a major policy shift triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay,” Niinisto and Marin said in a joint statement.
Finland, which shares a 1,300 km (810 mile) border and a difficult past with Russia, has previously remained outside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to maintain friendly relations with its eastern neighbour.
(Reporting by Anne Kauranen and Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik)
