In Finland, the new president Alexander Stubb took office

The inauguration of the new president of Finland, Alexander Stubb, took place in Helsinki on Friday. He won in the second round of elections on February 11, gaining 51.6% of the vote. From today, he will begin to perform the duties of the head of state.

Alexander Stubb belongs to the center-right National Coalition Party. Emu is 55 years old. In 2014-2015, he was the country’s prime minister. Stubb is a supporter of Finland joining NATO, expanding the European Union, and establishing strong ties with the United States. He advocates the expansion of economic and military aid to Ukraine.

At a press conference after the election results, Stubb said that Helsinki would not have political relations with Moscow until the end of the war in Ukraine. According to him, diplomatic and official relations between the two countries will not be interrupted, but there will be no productive contacts at the political level until Russia ends the war. Finland’s support for Ukraine will remain unchanged. Finland’s foreign policy will be determined primarily by the country’s membership in the EU and NATO.

Stubb’s predecessor in the presidency, Saula Nyinistö, gave a farewell speech to the government. He thanked the statesmen for the fact that during his 12 years in the presidential chair, they worked together with him to support democracy and stability in Finland. Niinistö emphasized that a lot has changed during his two presidential terms, and in the new conditions, Finland must adapt its foreign policy in order to remain an active member of the European Union.

• Finland joined NATO in 2023, after almost 80 years of neutrality policy. In Helsinki, this decision was explained by the need to strengthen security after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The length of the border between Finland and Russia is a little more than 1,300 kilometers, so the border between Russia and NATO has almost doubled.
• Finland, as a member of the European Union, observes the sanctions imposed by the EU against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, and also introduces its own security measures. In particular, cars with Russian license plates are prohibited from entering Finland, and the issuance of visas to Russian citizens is sharply limited.
• In November of last year, Finland began to close checkpoints on the border with Russia due to the influx from the Russian side of migrants from third countries who sought asylum in Finland. At the moment, all checkpoints Finland-Russia are closed.
• On Thursday, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkiänen said that Ukraine has the right to use weapons supplied by Finland to defeat military targets on the territory of Russia. He also called on EU countries to supply long-range weapons to Ukraine.