Niinisto said the Russian president's response was calm

Finnish President: I informed Putin about my country's application to join NATO

Niinistö said that Putin refused to meet with the Ukrainian president several times.

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Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said that he was surprised when he informed Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country would join NATO, as his response was very cold. He told Foreign Policy that he tried to persuade President Putin to meet with the Ukrainian president, but He always refused.

Here are excerpts from his interview:

■ During your tenure as Finnish president, what have you learned about Putin's actions?

■■ It is difficult to say that I know Putin perfectly, and I mean as a person.

But during these years, I can say that our discussions have been frank.

I know the position of the Russians and they know our position, they know how we think and we know how they think, so things are simple.

■ Did you notice any change in Putin during your recent conversations with him?

■■ If you follow his public speeches, you will notice clearly that he is very sad about what happened to the Soviet Union, and what happened in the 1990s to Russia, in my opinion.

This sadness developed into anger, and perhaps into hatred.

■ When you say that Putin's sadness turned into anger, what is the reason for his anger?

■■ I think it goes back to the nineties of the last century.

He often says publicly that Russia, when it was weak in the 1990s, was mistreated.

And I think that these feelings began to appear from that period, and I think it is the position of the West.

■ Do you think we did the right thing in 2014 when we showed the Russians the existence of red lines?

■■ I think that the sanctions imposed by the Western world against Russia have sufficient effect.

■ When it comes to negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, can you help play a role in this process given your good relationship with Putin, and with Europe both?

■■ I discussed this several times with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and he told me several times that he wanted to meet Putin face to face, and I conveyed this to Putin, but he always refused.

■ When I called Putin and told him that Finland intended to apply to join NATO, his reaction was not great.

Did that surprise you?

■■ I called him to tell him that we had applied to join NATO, and he was clearly aware of this and he simply said, "In my opinion, I made a mistake."

I was amazed, but he faced it very calmly.

■ You have visited Washington twice since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, your first visit since the beginning of the war.

Why did you think that your meeting with US President Joe Biden was so important at the beginning of last March?

■■ Yes, you should bear in mind that I met Biden in October in Scotland during the International Climate Summit.

I called him in December and in January.

Even at that time we discussed that it would be very useful to have extended meetings, and not just on the phone.

I visited him at the beginning of March.

■ Did President Biden ask you for any advice on how to deal with Russia, or how to deal with Putin?

■■ After every contact with Biden, whether it was a meeting or a phone call, there were a lot of requests, and many around the world were asking: "What's going on?"

Similarly, when anyone called Putin, we were quick to ask him if anything important had happened.

It is important that this normal diplomacy, this kind of discussion with the United States continues.

After every contact with Biden, whether it was a meeting or a phone call, there were a lot of requests, and many around the world were asking, "What's going on?"

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