Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said the country has the right to apply to join the NATO alliance, RT reports.
“We retain the opportunity to apply for NATO membership.
We must cherish this freedom of choice and preserve it, because it concerns the right of each country to make its own decisions in the field of security,” she said.
Marin recalled that the right to choose is the basis of European security, enshrined in the OSCE.
Earlier, the research company Taloustutkimus Oy, commissioned by the Advisory Council for Defense Information under the Ministry of Defense of Finland, conducted a survey among residents of the country to find out their attitude to state security policy.
About half of the respondents (51%) spoke out against Finland's aspiration to join NATO, 24% were in favor of such a prospect, and another 24% could not give an answer.