Iran Press/ Europe: Finland does not plan to join NATO in the near future but is ready to stand with its European allies and the United States by imposing tough sanctions on Russia if it attacks Ukraine, Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday.
The Nordic country shares a 1,340 km (833 mile) border and a difficult history with Russia and the Soviet Union, including clashing during World War Two but has opted not to join the NATO alliance.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden called Finland's President Sauli Niinisto to speak with him for a second time in a month to discuss "the importance of Finland's close defense partnership with the United States and with NATO", Biden's office wrote in a statement.
Marin was tight-lipped about the discussions but said she believed other countries appreciated the fact that Finland had long maintained "functional" relationships with Russia. 219
