Russia's President Vladimir Putin has told his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto that joining NATO would harm Finland's relations with its neighbour Russia. Russia, on Saturday, suspended electricity supply to Finland. Finland is preparing to announce its application for NATO membership. The Kremlin’s press service said in a statement that Vladimir Putin told Sauli Niinisto that Finland’s abandonment “of its traditional policy of military neutrality would be an error since there are no threats to Finland’s security,” the Guardian reported.
“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 neighbourliness and cooperation between partners,” the Kremlin statement said.
Russian news outlet TASS reported that Russia’s largest electricity company-- RAO Nordic said there were problems with non-payment of bills and that was the reason the power supply was suspended.
Political and public opinion in Finland and Sweden swung in favour of NATO membership following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin told Al Jazeera that her country was “prepared for different types of action” from Moscow. “But there is no information indicating Russia will initiate military action against Finland,” she said.
