photo: Pekka Haavisto. source: wikipedia
Finland will not place nuclear weapons on its territory even after joining NATO. This was announced on Sunday by Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, quoted by the broadcasting portal Yle.
According to Haavisto, Helsinki did not submit any preconditions when applying for NATO membership. However, the head of the foreign ministry insists that no nuclear weapons will be definitively placed on Finnish soil even after the country officially joins the bloc.
Furthermore, the diplomat said that Finland and Sweden form one defense. strategic units, for this reason the simultaneous submission of applications for membership in the North Atlantic Alliance by these countries is not just a matter of courtesy. And under no circumstances will his country join NATO before its neighbor.
Havisto believes that NATO membership will strengthen cooperation between the European Union and the alliance, as well as interaction between the Nordic countries. However, he noted that in this case, the vector of Finland's foreign policy will not change much: the EU will continue to remain its main partner, and the implementation and protection of human rights – the basic pillar of the unity of Helsinki and Brussels.