President Biden arrives in Helsinki for a press conference on Thursday.Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times
Representing the world at a pivotal moment in history, President Biden pledged to defend “every inch” of the alliance’s territory during a visit to Finland on Thursday.
Mr. Biden arrived in Finland, NATO’s newest member, fresh from a crucial meeting of NATO leaders in Vilnius, Lithuania, where leaders worked hard to show unity in support of Ukraine. At a press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Mr Biden described the current moment as “a tipping point” where “the decisions we make now will determine the course of history for the next four, five, six decades.”
“At this critical moment in history, at this tipping point where the world is strained, will we do the hard work that matters to create a better future? Will we stand together, will we stand together? Are we staying true to our course?” Mr. Biden said.
Finland’s entry into NATO comes as a sharp rebuke to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, who has cited the eastward expansion of the mutual defense alliance as the reason for launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Biden promised his Finnish counterpart: “As your ally, we want the people of Finland to know that the United States is committed to Finland and to NATO.”
“We will defend every inch of NATO territory, and that includes Finland,” he said.
Ukraine is also aiming to join NATO. At the Vilnius Summit, NATO member states made their strongest commitment yet that Ukraine would become a member, but gave no framework for when and how that would happen.
For the first time, Mr. Biden had some advice for Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, Mr. Putin’s former caterer and head of Wagner’s forces, who led the insurgency against the Russian military. “If I were him, I would be careful about what he eats,” he said.
When asked by a reporter about his administration’s efforts to free Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter said the United States had declared him “wrongly imprisoned” that he was serious about negotiating a prisoner swap.
“I’m serious about doing whatever we can to free Americans who are being held illegally in Russia — or anywhere else,” he said. “And that process is ongoing.”
Last week, the United States confirmed that it was in talks with Russia over a possible swap, but warned that the talks had not yet yielded a “clear path to a solution.” This came after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov said the two countries were in touch over the possibility of a swap.
Mr Biden held talks with Mr Niinisto before attending a summit with other Nordic leaders, including the prime ministers of Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden. He was due to return to Washington late Thursday after the latest press conference with Mr Niinisto.
Earlier this week, Turkey dropped its objections to Sweden joining NATO, raising hopes for the country’s entry soon. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later made it clear that the necessary vote in the Turkish parliament would probably not take place before October. He also said Sweden still needs to take steps to convince the majority of lawmakers and hinted there may be more hurdles before the deal goes through.
Finland and Sweden jointly applied to join the military alliance last year, abandoning long-standing military non-aligned policies in the face of Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine. However, Turkey delayed the process on the grounds that Sweden harbored Kurdish militants and others it considers terrorists. Finland then pursued its bid separately and was able to join NATO in April.
David E. Sanger and Gabriela Sá Pessoa contributed reporting.
—Johanna Lemola and James C. McKinley Jr.
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