Published 6 February 2023 at 17.16
Foreign. Finland is ready to join NATO without Sweden. This according to highly placed sources for Iltalehti.
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Outwardly, the Finnish government has signaled that it continues to regard NATO membership as a common concern for Finland and Sweden.
But behind the scenes, the attitude is different, according to Iltalehti.
The newspaper writes, with reference to several high-ranking sources, that Finnish party leaders and other people in power have met to discuss the matter in recent weeks.
– We must admit the facts: we are Russia's neighbour. Sweden's geopolitical position is completely different from ours, says a source to Iltalehti.
The sources state that the Finnish negotiators reached an agreement with the Turks already before Christmas, and that the matter is thus in principle already settled for Finland. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) must have been informed about this.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) is visiting Finland on Tuesday and will then meet with Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto.