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Finnish FM Pekka Haavisto Answers Questions On NATO Bid

NATO

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto is answering questions on his country's NATO bid, in a conversation with the Center for Strategic Studies.

  • Livestream here: https://www.csis.org/events/crossroads-finlands-pe...
  • On Turkey's blockade on accession, Haavisto says that Turkey didn't question the bid until after it was made. Haavisto confirms that a Finnish delegation was dispatched to Ankara on Wednesday and had a six-hour discussion with Turkish counterparts.
  • Haavist: 'We are testing the 'open door' policy of NATO. We think that it has [one], but it is up to NATO now.'
  • Haavisto says that Finland is bringing to NATO a 'long' but 'peaceful' border with Russia. He says that Finland has 'a lot of capabilities' in cyber and hybrid warfare which can strengthen NATO.
  • According to Ozer Sencar of Turkish pollster MetroPOL, Turkish President Recep Erdogan has experienced a significant bump in approval since moving to block the Nordic NATO bids.
  • Sencar says a recent bounce from 38% to 44% in Erdogan's approval is 'the effect of Erdogan's attitude towards the admission of Finland and Sweden to NATO.'
  • Haavisto will now head to the State Department for a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

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