Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has promised Finland full German support, no matter what the country decides to do with NATO membership.
During his visit to Helsinki on Friday, after a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, he referred to Finland's long experience with neighboring Russia, the 1,300-kilometer border and the "lively debate" about Finland's possible NATO membership.
Matthias Wysuwa
Political correspondent for northern Germany and Scandinavia based in Hamburg.
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Germany has no advice to give, he said.
But whatever decision Finland makes, "you can be sure of German support," said Steinmeier.
"We stand by your side."
Hacking of government websites
Finland is the EU country with by far the longest border with Russia.
It is not yet a NATO member, but a close partner of the alliance.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sparked a wide debate in both Finland and Sweden about possible NATO membership.
On Thursday the Finnish
President Sauli Niinistö told German journalists that he assumes that there will be a majority in the Finnish parliament for the country to join NATO.
Niinistö said he expected a "huge parliamentary majority"
for a possible membership application.
However, he himself does not want to say how he feels about this before Parliament has debated it.
During his one-day visit to Finland, Steinmeier also wanted to listen to a video speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Niinistö in the Finnish Parliament.
Parallel to the planned speech, the websites of the government and several ministries were the target of a hacker attack.
The Ministry of Defense also announced that Russian aircraft had entered Finnish airspace in the morning.
In addition to the conversation with Niinistö, there was also a meeting between Steinmeier and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and a visit to the European Center of Excellence for countering hybrid threats.