Finnish President and Prime Minister Sauli Niiniste and Sanna Marin expressed their support for the decision to apply for Finland's accession to NATO as soon as possible.

Politicians believe that Finland should immediately apply for membership in the alliance. According to them, all the necessary steps for this will be taken over the next few days..

Text of the statement:.

In the spring of this year, an important discussion took place on the possible membership of Finland in NATO. It took time for Parliament and the whole society to determine their position on this issue.. It took time for close international contacts with NATO and its member countries, as well as with Sweden. We wanted to give the discussion the necessary space..

Now that the moment of decision is close, we declare the agreement of our positions, this also applies to parliamentary groups and parties. NATO membership will strengthen Finland's security. By becoming a member of NATO, Finland will strengthen the entire defense alliance. Finland must immediately apply for NATO membership. We hope that our steps necessary to make this decision will be quickly taken over the next few days..

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Earlier it was reported that Finland and Sweden plan to apply for NATO membership in May. Thus, both countries decided to speed up the accession procedure, without waiting for the Alliance summit, which will be held at the end of June..

However, Russia threatened Sweden and Finland with " Moscow reacts nervously to such a prospect of expanding the Alliance. But will Russia open a \? About this - in the article by Alina Gritsenko \?