It is not enough for Finland to make such a decision on its own, there must be the same guidelines throughout the Schengen area, he said…reports Asian Lite News
The Finnish government wants to tighten visa regulations for people from Russia, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said, according to a media report.
Russian citizens should no longer be granted tourist visas in the way they are at present, dpa news agency reported, citing Finnish radio station Yle.
The Foreign Ministry in Helsinki is preparing measures to be discussed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the end of the month, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told the broadcaster.
It is not enough for Finland to make such a decision on its own, there must be the same guidelines throughout the Schengen area, he said.
Lawmakers across the political spectrum backed the move, according to Yle, in sentiments sparked by Russia’s war neighbouring Ukraine, which began in February.
Finland shares a 1340-km border with Russia, the longest of all the EU states. According to Yle, Russian tourists have so far been able to enter the Schengen area by bus or car across the Finnish border despite Moscow’s attacks.
NATO’s 30 member states signed accession protocols for Sweden and Finland in early July, starting the process to admit the two Nordic countries into the military alliance…reports Asian Lite News
Turkey will suspend Finland and Sweden’s NATO accession process if they do not keep promises on counter-terrorism, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
“I would like to remind you that we will freeze the process if they do not take the necessary steps to meet our terms,” Erdogan added on Monday at a press conference after a cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara, adding Sweden was “not showing a good image” for now.
“Our stance is very clear. The rest is up to them,” he said.
NATO’s 30 member states signed accession protocols for Sweden and Finland in early July, starting the process to admit the two Nordic countries into the military alliance.
The next step is for the parliaments of all NATO members to ratify their accession to NATO.
Finland and Sweden’s NATO bid was initially blocked by Turkey, which accused them of “supporting” anti-Turkish terrorist groups as they rejected Ankara’s extradition requests for suspects affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Gulen movement.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the EU, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for more than three decades.
The Gulen movement is led by and named after the US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen who is regarded by his followers as a spiritual leader. The Turkish government accuses the movement of masterminding the 2016 failed coup in which at least 250 people were killed.
On June 28, Turkey, Sweden and Finland agreed on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) before Ankara lifted its veto ahead of the NATO Madrid summit.
In the MoU, Finland and Sweden pledged to support Turkey’s fight against terrorism, and agreed to address Turkey’s “pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects expeditiously and thoroughly”.
“We are convinced that our membership would strengthen NATO and add to the stability in the Euro Atlantic area,” she added…reports Asian Lite News
The process to ratify Sweden and Finland as the newest members of NATO was formally launched on Tuesday, the military alliance’s head Jens Stoltenberg said, marking a historic step brought on by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“This is a good day for Finland and Sweden and a good day for NATO,” Stoltenberg told reporters in a joint press statement with the Swedish and Finnish foreign ministers.
“With 32 nations around the table, we will be even stronger and our people will be even safer as we face the biggest security crisis in decades,” he added.
The NATO secretary general was speaking ahead of a meeting in which the ambassadors from NATO’s 30 member states were expected to sign the accession protocols for the two Nordic countries, opening a months-long period for alliance countries to ratify their membership.
“We are tremendously grateful for all the strong support that our accession has received from the allies,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde.
“We are convinced that our membership would strengthen NATO and add to the stability in the Euro Atlantic area,” she added.
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Sweden and Finland in parallel announced their intention to drop their military non-alignment status and become part of NATO.
A NATO summit in Madrid last week endorsed that move by issuing invitations to the two, after Turkey won concessions over concerns it had raised and a US promise it would receive new warplanes.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had accused Sweden and Finland of being havens for Kurdish militants he has sought to crush, and for promoting “terrorism.”
He also demanded they lift arms embargoes imposed for Turkey’s 2019 military incursion into Syria.
But Erdogan has kept the rest of NATO on tenterhooks by saying he could still block Sweden and Finland’s bids if they fail to follow through on their promises, some of which were undisclosed, such as possible extradition agreements.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg stressed the “necessity to meet the expectations of Turkey, an important ally”…reports Asian Lite News
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that Turkey’s security concerns on Sweden and Finland’s intention to join the alliance were based on “just and legitimate” grounds, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.
“Both countries should clearly display that they have given up supporting terrorism, that they have lifted sanctions against Turkey, and that they are ready to show alliance solidarity,” Erdogan told the NATO chief in a phone call, Xinhua news agency reported.
Stoltenberg stressed the “necessity to meet the expectations of Turkey, an important ally.”
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO following the Russia-Ukraine conflict that erupted in late February.
NATO allies, except for Turkey, have welcomed the Nordics’ appeal. Ankara, however, citing the Swedish and Finnish ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and other anti-Turkey outlawed groups, objected to their entry into the alliance.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
Turkey demanded an array of “concrete assurances” from Sweden and Finland, which included “termination of political support for terrorism,” “elimination of the source of terrorism financing” and “cessation of arms support” to the PKK and its Syrian Kurdish offshoot.
The demands also include the lifting of the two countries’ arms sanctions against Turkey.
Russian-backed separatists already controlled parts of Luhansk and the neighboring Donetsk province before the invasion, but Moscow wants to seize the remaining Ukrainian-held territory in the region…reports Asian Lite News
Ukraine ruled out a cease-fire or any territorial concessions to Moscow while Russia intensified its attack in the eastern Donbas region and stopped sending gas to Finland in its latest response to Western sanctions and its deepening international isolation.
Polish President Andrzej Duda told Ukraine’s parliament that ceding even “one inch” of the country’s territory would be a blow to the whole West and reassured Kyiv of Warsaw’s strong backing for its European Union membership bid.
“Worrying voices have appeared, saying that Ukraine should give in to (President Vladimir) Putin’s demands,” Duda said, the first foreign leader to address Ukrainian lawmakers in person since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.
“Only Ukraine has the right to decide about its future.”
After ending weeks of resistance by the last Ukrainian fighters in the strategic southeastern port of Mariupol, Russia is waging a major offensive in Luhansk, one of two provinces in Donbas.
Russian-backed separatists already controlled parts of Luhansk and the neighboring Donetsk province before the invasion, but Moscow wants to seize the remaining Ukrainian-held territory in the region.
On the Donetsk frontline, Russian forces were trying to break through Ukrainian defenses to reach the administrative borders of the Luhansk region, while further north they continued heavy shelling of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, Ukraine’s general staff said in its daily update on Sunday.
Sievierodonetsk and its twin Lysychansk across the Siverskiy Donets River form the eastern part of a Ukrainian-held pocket that Russia has been trying to overrun since mid-April after failing to capture Kyiv and shifting its focus to the east and south of the country.
The British Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Russia was deploying its BMP-T “Terminator” tank-support vehicles in that offensive. With only 10 available for a unit that already suffered heavy losses in the failed attempt on Kyiv, however, the ministry said they were “unlikely to have a significant impact.”
Ukraine’s lead negotiator, speaking to Reuters on Saturday, ruled out a cease-fire or any deal with Moscow that involved ceding territory. Making concessions would backfire because Russia would hit back harder after any break in fighting, Zelensky’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said.
“The war will not stop. It will just be put on pause for some time,” Podolyak said in an interview in the heavily guarded presidential office. “They’ll start a new offensive, even more bloody and large-scale.”
Recent calls for an immediate cease-fire have come from US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
The end of fighting in Mariupol, the biggest city Russia has captured, gives Russian President Vladimir Putin a rare victory after a series of setbacks in nearly three months of combat.
The last Ukrainian forces holed up Mariupol’s vast Azovstal steelworks have surrendered, the Russian defense ministry said on Friday. While Ukraine has not confirmed all its forces have left, the commander of the Azov regiment, one of the units in the factory, said in a video that Ukraine’s military command had ordered the forces in Mariupol to stand down in order to preserve their lives.
Full control of Mariupol gives Russia command of a land route linking the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow seized in 2014, with mainland Russia and parts of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russia separatists.
Gas dispute
Russian state gas company Gazprom said on Saturday it had halted gas exports to Finland, which has refused Moscow’s demands to pay in roubles for Russian gas after Western countries imposed sanctions over the invasion.
Finland said it was prepared for the cutoff of Russian flows. It applied together with its Nordic neighbor Sweden on Wednesday to join the NATO military alliance, although that is facing resistance from NATO member Turkey.
Most European supply contracts are denominated in euros or dollars. Last month, Moscow cut off gas to Bulgaria and Poland after they rejected the new terms.
Western nations have also stepped up weapons supplies to Ukraine. On Saturday, Kyiv got another huge boost when US President Joe Biden signed a bill to provide nearly $40 billion in military, economic and humanitarian aid.
Moscow says Western sanctions, along with arms deliveries for Kyiv, amount to a “proxy war” by the United States and its allies.
Putin calls the invasion a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of radical anti-Russian nationalists. Ukraine and its allies have dismissed that as a baseless pretext for the war, which has killed thousands of people in Ukraine, displaced millions and shattered cities.
Zelensky said he stressed the importance of more sanctions on Russia and unblocking Ukrainian ports in a call with Italy’s Draghi on Saturday.
The government has also decided on a bill that will make it possible for Sweden to receive military support from all European Union and NATO countries, she said…reports Asian Lite News
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson has announced the official decision to start the process of the country’s application to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
“It is clear that there is a broad majority in Sweden’s parliament for Sweden to join NATO,” Andersson said on Monday during a press conference.
“We leave one era and go into another. We will inform NATO that we want to become a member of the alliance,” she added.
According to Andersson, Sweden’s NATO Ambassador in Brussels will submit the country’s NATO application within the next few days. The application will be submitted together with Finland.
The government has also decided on a bill that will make it possible for Sweden to receive military support from all European Union and NATO countries, she said.
On Sunday, Sweden’s ruling Social Democratic Party (SAP) granted support for the country’s NATO membership application, marking a fundamental change in the party’s position as a staunch opponent of military alignment.
However, the SAP’s decision drew criticisms and concerns in the country.
“Through this decision, Sweden contributes to making the world more militarised and polarised. A NATO membership does not make Sweden or the world more secure or democratic — rather the opposite,” Agnes Hellstrom, Chairman of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, wrote in a statement.
Swedish Social Democratic Youth Union Chairman, Lisa Nabo said in a statement that the union demands the government “guarantee a Sweden free of nuclear weapons, a nuclear-weapon-free zone across the Nordic region and that foreign military bases are never established in Sweden”.
Koukku-Ronde assured Singh that Finnish companies will partner with India for carbon-neutral technologies and innovations…reports Asian Lite News
India and Finland on Wednesday worked out a detailed plan for establishment of the Indo-Finnish Virtual Network Centre on Quantum Computing, the formal announcement for which is likely in April.
The formal announcement for establishment of the Centre is likely to be made during the visit of Finnish Economic Affairs Minister Mika Lintila to India next month, a release from the Science and Technology Ministry said.
“India has already identified three premier institutes viz. IIT Madras, IISER Pune and C-DAC Pune for working with Finnish counterpart institutions for the Virtual Network Centre,” Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday.
A Finnish delegation led by Ambassador Ritva Koukku-Ronde had called on Singh and reviewed the progress of bilateral cooperation in areas such as 5G, Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability by involving, academia, industries, and Start Ups of the two countries.
The Minister also called for joint collaboration in DST initiated mission mode programmes such as electric vehicles, cyber physical system, future manufacturing, green hydrogen fuel etc. to address the societal challenges.
Singh said that the bilateral STI collaboration between the two countries is an attempt to stimulate innovative R&D projects that address a specific need or challenge, demonstrate high industrial relevance and commercial potential, and aim to deliver benefit to both the nations.
Within the framework of S&T agreement, India’s Departments of Science and Technology, and Biotechnology, and Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, together with Business Finland and Academy of Finland, have been successfully collaborating for over a decade.
Koukku-Ronde assured Singh that Finnish companies will partner with India for carbon-neutral technologies and innovations. She also underlined that both sides should enhance cooperation for sustainability in climate change.
She also invited India to explore the possibility of deeper cooperation in Finland’s Biobank project to mediate high-quality human samples to medical research to promote the development of new products and services that promote public health. Finland reiterated its commitment for enhanced cooperation in the areas like renewable and bioenergy, sustainability, edu-tech, pharma and digitisation, the release added.
