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Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin said she hopes the West has learned how to deal with Russia, DPA reported.

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Russian invasion of Ukraine 8952

If Ukraine was a member of NATO, there would be no war there now, Marin said yesterday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

She added that this is the reason why Finland and Sweden expressed their desire to join the military alliance.

"We want to join NATO as we never want war in Finland again.

We have been at war with Russia before," Marin told journalist Farid Zakaria.

It is also important to look back to 2014, when Russia attacked and occupied the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine, the Prime Minister of Finland also emphasized.

If there had been a stronger response from the European Union, including "much tougher measures", then "the results of history would have been different", Marin added.

She also said that Finland is ready to support Ukraine in the war with Russia for as long as it takes, be it a year, two, five, ten or fifteen years, Reuters reported.

Finland: Provision of Leopard tanks to Ukraine depends on Germany

In 2022, the Finnish government gave more than 300 million euros in support to Ukraine, 190 million of which was for the supply of defense equipment.

After decades of neutrality, Finland and Sweden applied to join the Western defense alliance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February.

However, their acceptance into the bloc requires unanimous approval, and Turkey and Hungary do not agree with the admission of the countries to NATO, notes BTA.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Finland

sana marin