Sweden is open to sending some of its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, said the country’s defense minister on Thursday. They are in close contact with Germany, the producer of the tanks, over this issue, Pal Jonson told. He said their main contribution to Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself wasContinue Reading
“Being Norwegian is just like being Finnish, but without the drunkenness.” This is how the popular Norwegian social media account helgi.and.erlend describes the differences between the two Nordic nations in a video captioned “Gotta love the Finns”. In the background of the video, as if to emphasise the point, aContinue Reading
The military’s intelligence and security service, known as Must said on Monday that Sweden is safer after applying to join Nato, stating that Sweden had received bilateral security assurances from several countries while the membership was still pending. But at the same time, Sweden’s military intelligence said that Russia’s militaryContinue Reading
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö meets on Wednesday with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Störe. The foreign and defence ministers of all three countries, including Pekka Haavisto (Green) and Mikko Savola (Cen) from Finland, will also participate in the mini-summit. The three-way Nordic conference willContinue Reading
The prime minister of Sweden has warned against delinking his country’s Nato membership bid from Finland’s, after the alliance acknowledged for the first time that the two might have to join separately owing to Turkey’s obstruction. Ulf Kristersson said in an interview that for strategic reasons, the two membership applicationsContinue Reading
Estonia’s defense cooperation with Finland and Sweden is already very good, and it will not be damaged by delays in the two countries’ accession to NATO, said Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) on Tuesday. “Our security cooperation with both Finland and Sweden is very strong. We are in theContinue Reading
Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö said on Tuesday that Finland is proceeding with its Nato process in “complete understanding” with Sweden. Niinistö noted that the two Nordic nations have received different types of messages from Turkey about their Nato membership ratifications. Finland’s President was speaking on Tuesday during a press conferenceContinue Reading
Meloni, leader of the right-wing populist Brothers of Italy party, is the second government leader to visit Kristersson after Finland’s Sanna Marin, who was in Stockholm earlier this week. The two leaders will discuss migration, as well as how the EU should respond to the American Inflation Reduction Act (IRA),Continue Reading
Finland is still planning to join Nato alongside Sweden, Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister Pekka Haavisto (Green) said at a press briefing held in Helsinki on Monday afternoon. He was responding to suggestion by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Turkey could ratify Finland’s accession to the defence alliance without Sweden.Continue Reading
As Turkey and Hungary are yet to ratify the Finnish and Swedish applications, a former Deputy Secretary General has suggested that the Nordic nations could still receive security guarantees in the interim. Minister of Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto (Green) told Yle’s A-studio current affairs programme on Tuesday evening that heContinue Reading