my guest today is the president of finland, sauli niinisto. do finns now see russia as the enemy nextdoor? president sauli niinisto, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. mr president, finland hasjust made a major strategic shift. this country is now prepared to join nato. how big a deal is that? it is, but if you look back at the time before the cold war ended, that is the beginning of the 90s, we have all the time developed our interoperability with nato. our armament is, well, quite modern, us based, mostly. so, in a way, we have been very prepared all the time. but the changes, like you said, remarkable. it is remarkable because public opinion has moved so far so fast. just a year ago, polls suggested that 20 to 30% of firms liked the idea ofjoining nato, now it is 75 to 80%. is that based on a new level of fear of neighbouring russia? first of all, even though so many said a year ago that no reason to apply for membership of nato, they were not actually against nato, it was mo
while attempting to land in stormy weather. authorities say more than 20 people survived the crash, and were taken to hospital. now on bbc news, it s hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk from helsinki. i m stephen sackur. when vladimir putin launched his invasion of ukraine, he probably didn t consider the impact it would have on another neighbour, finland, but maybe he should have, because after decades of pragmatic coexistence, finland has made a big strategic decision to join nato, to send weapons to kyiv, and to build a big fence along the border with russia to keep russians out. my guest today is the president of finland, sauli niinisto. do finns now see russia as the enemy next door? president sauli niinisto. welcome to hardtalk. thank you. mr president, finland hasjust made a major strategic shift. this country is now prepared to join naito. prepared tojoin nato. how big a deal is that? it is, but if you look back, let s say time before.after cold war ende
hello, welcome to the programme. it is nato s expansion eastwards that has infuriated vladimir putin. the kremlin is deeply suspicious of europe s intentions, they don t like western liberal philosophy, and in spite of all evidence to the contrary, they firmly believe it is the united states that is to blame for the situation in ukraine. that paranoia underpins their wharped justification for this war and the more widely held belief in russia that the principal danger to the state is external and ideological, rather than internal and structural. and if you doubt that, then take a listen to sergei lavrov, the foreign minister, describing today the threat in the most extraordinary terms. what is going on in ukraine now is a result of many years of preparation by the united states and their satellite states for the beginning of the global hybrid war against the russian federation. nobody tries to conceal it. they are waging a war against our country with the same task the fin
we ll also bring you my conversations with other world leaders at davos. first, sanna marin, the prime minister of finland. her nation shares an 830-mile long border with russia, and is waiting to be granted nato membership. then, kyriakos mitsotakis, the prime minister of greece. a nation once seen as the sixth man of europe. the current state of greece s economy may well surprise you. but first, here s my take. davos was back with a bang. after a skinny spring version of the event last may, this rweek, the conference was packed with attendees trying to learn more about the world in 2023. it s not a bad place to try. davos is the only truly global conference that i ve attended. in one day, you can meet with chinese officials, american ceos, ukrainian human rights activists and middle eastern entrepreneurs. in fact, i did. every year, some country or trend is surrounded by buzz. this year there were three. the gulf states, india, and artificial intelligence. saudi arabia an
this is gps, the global public square. welcome to all of you in the united states and around the world. i m fareed zakaria coming to you from davos, switzerland. today on the program, ukraine s president, volodymyr zelenskyy. t r hip hihi his of practically every discussion in davos this week. and i had a conversation with the man himself about the state of war and the potential for peace. we ll also bring you my conversations with other world leaders at davos. first, sanna marin, the prime minister of finland. her nation shares an 830-mile long border with russia, and is waiting to be granted nato membership. then, kyriakos mitsotakis, the prime minister of greece. a nation once seen as the sixth man of europe. the current state of greece s economy may well surprise you. but first, here s my take. davos was back with a bang. after a skinny spring version of the event last may, this week, tthe p the world economi conference was packed with attendees trying to learn more a