Finland

A snub for Putin, a risk for Europe

NATO has established 8 multinational battle groups in Poland and the Baltic nations, and more recently in Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, to serve as a "tripwire" in case of Russian attack

In Russia's opinion, the expansion of NATO infringes on its security and national interests

NATO's blue and white flags fluttered against the backdrop of Helsinki's deep blue sky as Finland was on the cusp of its historic entry into NATO on Tuesday, a step that doubles the Western alliance's border with Russia and ends decades of non-alignment for the Nordic nation. The country's foreign minister travelled the night before to Brussels carrying papers in a suitcase that when handed over to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will seal Finland's entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. It's a moment that most Finns had never even sought as they balanced friendly ties with both the West and Russia. But all that changed with Russia's full-scale and brutal invasion of its neighbour Ukraine last year, creating a sudden and strong sense of insecurity that pushed the nation toward membership to the security alliance. Newspapers showed Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto with a smile on his face as he travelled to Brussels late Monday for the raising of Finland's flag at NAT

Finland's parliamentary website was paralysed by a denial-of-service attack on Tuesday, just before the country made its historic entry into NATO, a move that more than doubles NATO's border with Russia and has angered Russian President Vladimir Putin. The attacks in which participants flood targets with junk data made the parliament's site hard to use, with many pages not loading and some functions not available for a time. A pro-Russian hacker group known as NoName057 (16) claimed responsibility, saying the attack was retaliation for Finland joining NATO. The hacker group, which has reportedly acted on Moscow's orders, has taken part in a slew of cyberattacks on the US and its allies in the past. The claim could not be immediately verified. For the most part, Finns went about their business as usual on the bright cold day, belying the historic nature of Finland becoming the 31st member of NATO. Its membership was formalised with a series of steps in Brussels. It's a moment that

Finland is set to officially become a member of NATO later on Tuesday and take its place among the ranks of the world's biggest security alliance. Neighboring Russia has already warned that it will bolster its defences near their joint border if NATO deploys any additional troops or equipment to what will be its 31st member country. Finland's blue and white flag is scheduled to be raised among those of its partners outside NATO's Brussels headquarters. Finland's president, foreign and defense ministers will take part. The ceremony falls on NATO's very own birthday, the 74th anniversary of the signing of its founding Washington Treaty on April 4, 1949. It also coincides with a meeting of the alliance's foreign ministers. Turkey became the last NATO member country to ratify Finland's membership protocol on Thursday. It will hand over the document officially enshrining that decision to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken before the ceremony. Finland will then give Blinken its own fi

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Finland will become the 31st member of the military alliance on Tuesday. From tomorrow, Finland will be a full member of the alliance, Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. Stoltenberg said that Turkey, the last country to have ratified Finland's membership, will hand its official texts to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday as NATO foreign ministers gather in Brussels. Stoltenberg said he would then invite Finland to do the same. A flag raising ceremony to add the Finnish flag to those of the other members will take place at NATO headquarters at on Tuesday afternoon.

Finland Chamber of Commerce in India on Monday announced the appointment of Sanjay Malik, Nokia Senior VP and Head of India Market, as its new Chairperson for the financial year 2023-24. He will succeed Sanjay Aggarwal, President of Fortum India Pvt Ltd, who held the position in the previous fiscal year ended March. Trade between India and Finland surpassed USD 1 billion for the first time in 2022, marking a significant milestone in the growing relationship between the two countries. In his acceptance letter addressed to members of the chamber, Malik said, "India's ambitious growth agenda under a dynamic leadership affords a wide avenue for Finnish companies to use their technologically advanced products and solutions to accelerate economic development in the country." "Finland will emerge as a strong, reliable partner country as India seeks to leapfrog several generations of standards and leverage the potential of Industry 4.0," Malik added.

Finland's main conservative party claimed victory in a parliamentary election Sunday in an extremely tight three-way race in which right-wing populists took second place, leaving Prime Minister Sanna Marin's Social Democratic Party in third, dashing her hopes for reelection. The center-right National Coalition Party (NCP) claimed victory Sunday evening with all of the votes counted, coming out on top at 20.8%. They were followed by right-wing populist party The Finns with 20.1%, while the Social Democrats garnered 19.9%. With the top three parties each getting around 20% of the vote, no party is in position to form a government alone. Over 2,400 candidates from 22 parties were vying for the 200 seats in the Nordic country's parliament. Based on this result, talks over forming a new government to Finland will be initiated under the leadership of the National Coalition Party, said the party's elated leader Petteri Orpo, as he claimed victory surrounded by supporters gathered in a ...

Bhutan has slipped to No 97 in the World Happiness Report. To all appearances, though, both the Finnish and the Bhutanese are equally happy

In a video shared by the official Twitter account of NATO Spokesperson, Oana Lungescu, the NATO General Secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, is heard welcoming and congratulating Finland

Nato's membership has increased from 12 to 30 countries through eight rounds of enlargement. The Republic of North Macedonia became the latest country to join Nato on March 27, 2020

Hungary's parliament on Monday approved Finland's bid to join NATO, ending months of delays and bringing the Nordic country one step closer to becoming a full member of the Western military alliance. Hungarian lawmakers voted 182 for and only six against with no abstentions. The vote came after Hungary's government frustrated allies in NATO and the European Union by repeatedly postponing the measure for months after nearly all other members of the alliance had ratified Finland's bid. With Hungary's approval, Turkey is now the only one of NATO's 30 members not to have ratified Finland's NATO accession. Admitting a new country requires unanimity among all member nations.

After Turkey approved the process of ratifying Finland's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the US welcomed the decision of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Representatives of Sweden, Finland and Turkey held talks in Brussels to discuss progress on fulfilling Turkey's conditions for agreeing to the Nordic countries' accession to NATO

Hungary has further delayed a vote on ratifying Sweden and Finland's NATO accession bids, according to an updated schedule published on Thursday on the National Assembly's website, the latest in a series of postponements that have frustrated Western allies. The delay, which pushes the vote back by two weeks to the parliamentary session beginning March 20, comes as Hungary remains the only NATO member country besides Turkey that hasn't yet approved the two Nordic countries' bids to join the Western military alliance. Hungary's populist prime minister, Viktor Orban, has said that he is personally in favour of the two countries joining NATO, but alleged that the governments in Stockholm and Helsinki have spread blatant lies about Hungary which have raised questions among lawmakers in his party on whether to approve the bids. In a radio interview on February 24, Orban confirmed that Hungary would send a parliamentary delegation to Sweden and Finland to seek clarification on such issues

The Finnish parliament has approved legislation allowing the country to join the NATO. As many as 184 members of parliament voted in favour, with seven against and one abstention.

In Finland, teachers too are largely free from external requirements such as inspection and standardised testing

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday called for Sweden and Finland to be accepted into NATO as quickly as possible, although his Turkish counterpart dismissed the possibility of any link between their accession and Turkiye's request for F-16 fighter jets. Turkiye has delayed the Nordic countries' admission to the trans-Atlantic defense alliance, citing concerns over terrorism. Meanwhile, members of the U.S. Congress have tied approval of the F-16 deal to Ankara retracting its opposition to the NATO enlargement. We're confident that NATO will formally welcome them in soon, Blinken told a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara. And when that happens, it will enhance the security of every NATO member, including the United States, including Turkiye." Cavusoglu repeated Turkiye's stance that it would be willing to approve Finland joining NATO before Sweden. Turkiye has complained about what it sees as Stockholm's tolerance of support fo

Finland's defence minister said Saturday that his country will join NATO without waiting for Sweden if its Nordic neighbour's accession is held up by the Turkish government. Mikko Savola told The Associated Press on Saturday that Finland would prefer that the two countries join the alliance together, but it wouldn't hold up the process if Turkey decides to approve Finland, but not Sweden, as it has warned. No, no. Then we will join, Savola said in an interview on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich. Since they broke with decades of non-alignment in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, Finland and Sweden have insisted they want to join NATO together. But Turkey's reluctance to accept Sweden unless it steps up pressure on Kurdish exile groups has made it more likely the two will have to join the alliance at different speeds. Sweden is our closest partner, Savola said. Almost every week our defence forces are practising together and so on. It's a very deep