President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö participated in a virtual NATO summit on Friday, 25 February 2022.
In a press conference after the summit, President Niinistö told Finnish journalists that the situation in Ukraine, Russia’s actions and the West’s response to Russia’s aggression were discussed at the summit.
The President said that there was a particular emphasis at the summit on the response to Russia’s actions: “Two elements were highlighted. Firstly, how important it is to remain united. And this certainly shone through the meeting. The second element was the means available to respond to Russia’s actions. “The weapon of the West, if we think of the European Union and the United States, is the economy, where we are strong.”
Earlier in the day, President Niinistö had a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attended by remote connection a meeting of Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) leaders. As a general observation on the day’s discussions, the President said that recent events have brought about a fundamental change in Europe and relations with Russia. “And the change is not only of a fundamental nature, but also indefinite in terms of time span, very difficult to see a reversal of events. And this, of course, is also a very important issue – although, of course, it would be absolutely vital now to achieve a state of peace in Ukraine.”
In addition to NATO member countries, the summit was attended by NATO Enhanced Opportunities Partners (EOP) Finland and Sweden as well as the EU.