Finland preparing to apply for NATO membership: Report

By Atila Altuntas

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AA) - Finland plans to apply for NATO membership in the first week of May, according to local news report on Friday.

Finnish news outlet Iltalehti said Helsinki will start preparations to join the military alliance on April 14 and membership application will be submitted in the first week of May.

Meanwhile, Alexander Stubb, former prime minister of the Nordic country, said Finland "will apply within weeks" and latest by May.

"In the beginning of the war I said that Putin’s aggression will drive Finland and Sweden to apply for @NATO membership. I said it was not a matter of days or weeks, but months. Time to revise: Finland will apply within weeks, latest May. Sweden to follow, or at the same time," he tweeted.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency during last month's Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said “we keep the NATO option” and according to opinion polls “majority of the Finnish citizens are in favor of NATO partnership.”

A mid-March poll by Finnish public broadcaster YLE found for the first time a majority of Finns saying yes to joining NATO, with 62%. Before Russia’s war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, polls in Finland showed most opposing membership in the alliance.

Another recent survey by YLE said 112 of the deputies in the Finnish parliament support NATO membership, while 71 oppose and 17 of them are undecided.

Separately, in his speech at the NATO foreign ministers meeting on Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said if Finland and Sweden wanted to join the alliance, this demand would be fulfilled quickly.

Finland and Sweden are not members, but close partners in the military alliance.

- Russia to 'rebalance the situation'

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Sky News on Thursday that if Finland and Sweden joined NATO, Russia will look to "rebalance the situation" to "ensure our own security." He said NATO is a "machine for confrontation, it's not a peaceful alliance."

Moscow says the military campaign is to “demilitarize Ukraine” and its key demand is to never accept Kyiv into NATO.

Ukraine offered to agree on neutral status in exchange of security guarantees by countries including Turkiye during delegation-level talks held in Istanbul on March 29.

* Writing and contributions by Merve Aydogan in Ankara