Free Republic

The Nordic country will become NATO’s 31st member on Tuesday, expanding the alliance in a strategic setback for President Vladimir Putin of Russia. (snip) Finland’s flag is being raised on Tuesday afternoon at NATO headquarters, a deeply symbolic moment marking the Nordic nation’s official welcome into the alliance and the shifting power calculations as the West strengthens its allegiances in response to the war in Ukraine. The president of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, is expected to attend the ceremony, on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 74th anniversary, in what amounts to a strategic defeat for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia,...

President Sauli Niinistö of Finland played a passive-aggressive game with Donald Trump on Wednesday at the White House, peppering a joint press conference with jabs subtle enough to fly under his radar. Trump, preoccupied with spitting nails over House Democrats' latest impeachment development, hardly seemed to notice. Niinistö described his time browsing Washington's sprawling museums, noting the Smithsonian Institution's traditionalist American history collection and a ceremony he witnessed at Arlington National Cemetary. He also heaped praise on the National Museum of the American Indian and the still new-ish National Museum of African American History and Culture, spotlighting racial diversity and...

THE HAGUE, March 24./ITAR-TASS/. Ukrainian crisis has not adversely affected bilateral relations between Finland and Russia, Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto said in The Hague on Monday. Helsinki traditionally maintained friendly relations with Moscow, Niinisto said adding he intended to continue bilateral meetings with Russia if it was in Finland’s interests, though last week's EU summit recommended that EU members cancel such meetings. Niinisto also pointed out the importance of continued negotiations to avert a deeper crisis in Ukraine.

Incumbent President Tarja Halonen has easily won the first round of Finland's presidential poll but faces a run-off after failing to take 50% of the vote. The left-leaning Social Democrat leader Ms Halonen, 62, won 46.3% of the vote. She became the country's first woman president in the year 2000. Conservative Sauli Niinisto came second with 24.1%, and will face her in a run-off ballot in two weeks time. The election campaign was dominated by foreign policy issues, particularly traditionally neutral Finland's relationship with NATO. Centrist Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen was third with 18.6% of the vote.