The conversation took place on May 14, 2022. A few days later, the Finnish Parliament supported the government's proposal to submit an application for NATO membership, then submitted jointly with Sweden. Finland was officially admitted to NATO on April 4, 2023, and the then authorities decided to take this step in response to Russia's attack on Ukraine and after decades of pursuing a policy of neutrality between the East and the West.
Niinisto's memoir, titled “Everything Leads to Safety” (Finnish: Kaikki tiet turvaan), will be released on Wednesday.
“Without the nation's support for joining NATO, there would be no issue at all,” Niinisto admitted. In the crucial period after February 24, 2022, after Russia attacked Ukraine, more and more Finns began to express support for NATO. Previously, for years, only every fifth or at most every fourth citizen had a positive attitude towards the military bloc. During the accession process, even more than 80 percent were in favor of joining the Alliance. Finns.
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When was Finland admitted to NATO?
How did Putin react to the news about Finland joining NATO?
How many times did Niinisto meet with Putin?
What was the mood of the Finns before joining NATO?
According to former president Vladimir Putin, with whom Niinisto met 16 times during his term in office (and both presidents also called each other many times), the Russian leader asked only once about Finland's NATO membership. This took place during President Niinisto's first visit to Russia in mid-2012. As part of that invitation, the two presidents also played ice hockey together in Karelia.
“Why are you going to NATO? You won't get Karelia back,” Putin asked then.
Finland lost part of its eastern areas as a result of the Winter War (1939-1940). “I replied,” Niinisto wrote in his book, “that we were not seeking NATO membership, but that we were intensifying our partnership with NATO and security cooperation with the EU and Western partners.”
“Why?” – Putin asked. “Because every independent country maximizes its security, I replied.” Then the case was closed for a longer period of time, until Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine. Niinisto also mentions that then-US President Joe Biden suggested in January 2022 to put pressure on Putin and tell him that an attack on Ukraine would lead to our (Finland) application for NATO membership.
The Finnish president admitted that although he talked to Putin, he did not reveal Biden's suggestions. He was afraid – as he admitted – that this pressure would not have an impact on Putin, and in the worst case scenario it could lead to, for example, sabotage of the membership project, and on the other hand, if Russia had not attacked, Finland might not have submitted the application to NATO, admitted 77-year-old Niinisto.
