Niinistö stated to the business weekly that the statement of intent is nothing to be baffled about, reminding that both Finland and Sweden already have a bilateral agreement with the United States.
“The statement of intent in itself contains no elements that are not reflected in the bilateral agreements,” he underscored. “I think it’s clearly wrong to conclude that this sees us somehow re-align ourselves towards Nato.”
“There’s really no need to offer any explanations,” he summarised. “Sweden has co-operated with the United States more closely than Finland, but also Finland has had [co-operation]. You could say that we’ve had a very firm relationship with the United States ever since the Hornet acquisition, not least because without the relationship there’d be no flying the Hornets.”
Niinistö also admitted that one of the factors driving the co-operation is increased Russian military activity in the Baltic Sea. Läs artikel