Moscow: In a phone call, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto that applying for a NATO membership was a "mistake, since there are no threats to Finland's security". In Saturday's call initiated by Helsinki, Niinisto informed Putin of Finland's decision to seek NATO membership in the next few days, reports Xinhua news agency.
In response, Putin "stressed that abandoning the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake, since there are no threats to Finland's security", the Kremlin said in a statement. Putin expressed concern that should Helsinki follow through with plans to join NATO, it may have a negative impact on Russia-Finland relations, the statement added.