the american president, Joe Biden, arrived this Wednesday evening for a 24-hour visit to Finland, Russia’s neighbor and a NATO member since April.
the presidential plane Air Force One landed at around 22:00 (19:00 GMT) at Helsinki International Airport from Vilnius, Lithuania, where the annual Transatlantic Defense Alliance Summit was being held, according to an AFP photographer who was on board.
The Nordic country, which shares a more than 1,300-kilometer border with Russia, advocated dialogue between the western powers and Russia until Moscow invaded Ukraine in late February 2022.
After decades of enforced neutrality in Moscow after World War II and a policy of military non-alignment since the end of the Cold War, Finland became the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on April 4.
Biden will meet with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, the main architect for Finland’s entry into the organization, and leaders of other Nordic countries on Thursday.
Discussions will focus on “Cooperation between the Nordic countries and the United States in”. safety, environmental and technological issues”, according to the Finnish Presidency.
Biden’s visit caps a trip to Europe that took him to London and the Lithuanian capital, which hosted a two-day NATO summit devoted primarily to the war in Ukraine.
Source: AFP.