Finland Times

 

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite (left) and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö at a joint press conference at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki on Tuesday. Photo Lehtikuva.

Finland is in a position to try to ease the tension in the Baltic Sea area, President Sauli Niinistö told the visiting Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite in a meeting on Tuesday.

 

Grybauskaite is in Finland on a two-day official visit.

 

At a press conference after the meeting, Grybauskaite commented on Russia’s decision earlier this month to transfer Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania.

 

Niinistö described the move as Russia’s response to NATO’s increase of troops in the Baltic countries and Poland.

 

The Finnish president reiterated that Finland advocates stability in the Baltic Sea area. “Finland’s position is still that we will do our best to reduce the tensions in the Baltic Sea area and to increase stability. We are ready to make further initiatives on this front," he was quoted by the national broadcaster Yle as saying.

 

President Niinistö at the press conference also affirmed that the status of the Åland Islands’ military policy is defined by international agreement. 

 

Åland is demilitarised in peacetime and neutral in times of war. 

 

Finland cannot break the agreement unilaterally.

 

The discussion must start, according to Niinistö, with the people of Åland, because it primarily concerns them.

 

“The people of Åland notice very easily, if there’s something strange going on around them. I have never heard of anything their parallel,” Niinistö remarked. 

 

Defence Minister Jussi Niinistö triggered the debate on the military political status of the islands over the weekend with a post on his blog. 

 

The defence minister in his blog said demilitarisation does not reduce the risk to the islands, but rather the opposite. A demilitarised Åland, in his view, is a military vacuum.

 

Opposition and Åland MPs have criticised the defence minister’s statements. 

 

Among others, lawmaker and former foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja believes that the defence minister’s statements are dangerous intimidations.

 

“Interfering with demilitarisation of Åland would give quite the wrong signal, increasing both international tensions and speculations,” Tuomioja told the national broadcaster Yle.