MOSCOW, January 2/ Sputnik Radio. Finland retains the possibility of applying for NATO membership, the country's Prime Minister Sanna Marin said.
"We also have the opportunity to apply for membership in NATO. We should cherish this freedom of choice and consider it real, because it concerns the right of each country to make its own decisions in the field of security," YLE quoted her as saying.
The day before, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said that Russia's proposals on security guarantees contradict European principles.
In his opinion, the sovereignty of some EU countries, for example, Sweden and Finland, is under threat, and "spheres of interest have no place in the 2020s."
In such a situation, the Finnish leader believes, the EU should participate in negotiations that affect the interests of its member states.
Earlier, Sputnik radio reported that Ukraine recognized the chances of the country joining NATO as negligible.