INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday about the Nordic country's application for
NATO membership, expected to be announced this weekend, his office said.The phone call, which was "initiated by Finland..
was direct and straightforward and it was conducted without aggravations
Avoiding tensions was considered important," Niinisto was quoted as saying in a statement by his office.But the Kremlin responded by saying
that Putin viewed any end to Finland's military neutrality as a "mistake.""Putin stressed that the end of the traditional policy of military
neutrality would be a mistake since there is no threat to Finland's security," it said in a statement."Such a change in the country's
political orientation can have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations developed over years in a spirit of good neighborliness and
cooperation between partners," the Kremlin added.Finland is expected to officially announce its NATO membership bid on Sunday.The Nordic
country and eurozone member "wants to take care of the practical questions arising from being a neighbor of Russia in a correct and
professional manner," said Niinisto, who has communicated regularly with Putin in recent years.Moscow's Feb
24 invasion of Ukraine has swung political and public opinion in Finland and neighboring Sweden in favor of NATO membership as a deterrent
against Russian aggression.Both countries have long cooperated with the Western military alliance and are expected to be able to join it
quickly.Sweden, like Finland traditionally neutral, is also expected to announce its own NATO membership bid in the coming days.NATO chief
Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly said they would be welcomed "with open arms."Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin signaled that a large
majority of the leadership of her Social Democrat party were in favor of NATO membership."Hopefully, we can send our applications next week
They will have their own process, but I, of course, hope that we will make the decisions at the same time and send our applications
join NATO "without delay" and that a membership bid was expected to be announced on Sunday.Moscow responded by saying it would "definitely"
see Finnish membership as a threat and that Moscow would be "forced to take reciprocal steps, military-technical and other, to address the
resulting threats."On Saturday, the Finnish grid operator said that Russia suspended electricity supplies to Finland overnight after its
energy firm RAO Nordic threatened to cut off supplies over payment arrears."It is at zero at the moment, and that started from midnight as
but has not spelt out if this was linked to European sanctions against Russia.According to Helsinki, Niinisto told Putin "how fundamentally
the Russian demands in late 2021 aiming at preventing countries from joining NATO and Russia's massive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022
have altered the security environment of Finland."Already on Thursday, Niinisto had told Russia: "You caused this
Look in the mirror."After Finland's NATO membership bid is officially announced on Sunday, it will be discussed by parliament on Monday.
