Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin says that if Russia were to win the war in Ukraine, it would show that invading another country leads to gains of land or natural resources.
She says Europe and other Western democracies should send Putin the message that “we will support as long as needed — five years, 10 years, 15 years, whatever it takes — we will support Ukraine, and this will not stop.”
Speaking Tuesday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Marin added that “it’s for Ukrainians to decide when they are ready to negotiate, when they are ready to make some peace agreement.”
She says “the story might have been very different” if Western is allies had acted stronger when Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
See: Putin claims his Ukraine invasion was aimed at ending a war that had been ‘raging’ since 2014
The European Union member that shares a long border with Russia is seeking NATO membership. Marin says Finland believed it was best to stay out of the alliance for its own security but then it saw “Russia is attacking another neighbor and we cannot rely on that relations anymore, so we have to seek partnership elsewhere.”
Don’t miss: Henry Kissinger, previously opposed to Ukraine’s membership in NATO, shifts position at Davos
All 30 NATO states must approve Finland and Sweden joining the Western military alliance, with just Turkey and Hungary yet to sign on. Turkey is demanding the Nordic countries tighten counterterrorism measures.
Marin says she has spoken with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who relayed to her that “there aren’t big issues with Finland, maybe Sweden.” She emphasized that Finland and Sweden must join NATO together.
From the archives (June 2022): Turkey lifts objection to NATO candidacies of Sweden and Finland as alliance leaders gather in Madrid
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