President Joe Biden welcomes ‘incredible’ Finland to Nato ahead of summit with Nordic leaders
- Finland’s decision to join Nato broke with seven decades of military non-alignment and roughly doubled the length of the border Nato shares with Russia
- Ahead of a bilateral meeting with Niinisto, Biden hailed Finland as an asset to the military alliance, ‘I don’t think Nato has ever been stronger’, he said
US President Joe Biden held talks with Nordic leaders at Finland’s presidential palace on Thursday, visiting Nato’s newest member directly after knocking Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit a day earlier.
The president travelled to Finland, which shares a border with Russia, straight from this week’s Nato talks in Vilnius, Lithuania to participate in a US-Nordic summit with the leaders of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway.
He will also hold a joint news conference with Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto before heading back to Washington.
Finland’s decision to join Nato broke with seven decades of military non-alignment and roughly doubled the length of the border Nato shares with Russia.
The country repelled an attempted Soviet invasion during World War Two but lost territory. It maintained accommodating relations with Russia until Putin’s Ukraine invasion.
Ahead of a bilateral meeting with Niinisto, Biden hailed Finland’s as an “incredible asset” to the Nato military alliance.
“I don’t think Nato has ever been stronger”, he told reporters at the palace. “Together we’re standing for shared democratic values”.
