Niinistö on Saturday commented on the ongoing debate over Nato membership in Finland. “We haven’t really considered the fact that Finland’s accession to Nato would double the land border of Russia with Nato. We would account for approximately half of the border,” he highlighted.
Ultimately, the President believes, the possible accession should be decided in a referendum. “If […] the government and president – whoever they are – decide to propose it, then yes,” Niinistö said.
President Sauli Niinistö, the commander-in-chief of the Finnish Defence Forces, has in an interview with YLE confirmed that fighter jets of the Finnish Air Force were unable to respond to the violations of Finnish airspace by two Russian aircraft on 20 May.
Savon Sanomat on Saturday wrote that the jets were not on standby due to attempts to reduce the backlog of overtime and were only able to respond to the violations four hours after the detection.
“The resources of the Defence Forces are evidently scarce,” Niinistö commented to YLE.
A few hours after the intrusions, also a third Russian aircraft was detected approaching the southern coast of Finland.
vara bungas: Tāda sajūta, ka RU paši ar savu rčību stimulē FI un SE iestāšanos NATO. Šķiet neloģiski, vai ne? Bet mūsdienu realitātēs SE un FI iestāšanās Ziemeļatlantijas blokā ļautu RU pamatoti “sapsihoties” un pieprasīt no NATO bloka visdažādākās ģeopolitiskās kompensācijas. Piemēram, sākumam brīvu militāra tranzīta koridoru uz Karalaučiem vai Latvijas demilitarizāciju… Veidojas eleganta kombinācija divos gājienos – izprovocēt kaimiņus uz aizsardzības pasākumu veikšanu, tad notēlot leģitīmas rūpēs par nacionālo drošību un saplēšot “jūrnieka kreklu” pieprasīt visādus ilgspēlējošus labumus. Cietumnieku triks.
“On the background of building up the NATO infrastructure in several countries bordering on Russia and resuming discussions of Sweden and Finland entering the military bloc, the risk of negative changes in the North and Baltic Sea Region was stressed, while this region is traditionally characterised by a low level of political and military tension,” reads the report posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s web site.
vara bungas 