Finland became NATO’s 31st member in a flag-raising ceremony at the alliance’s Brussels headquarters attended by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto just over a year after Russian troops rolled into Ukraine.
“I feel it’s a good thing that Finland is joining NATO. We have been here next to Russia for ages,” said Outi Lehtimaki, 59, a designer in Helsinki. “My father was in the war with the Russians so this is like a personal thing to me.”
Senja Veihlanen, a 25-year-old baker said, “In some ways I think it will make Finland a safer place but then again we don’t know what Russia will do. It’s a big question for me.”
In Virolahti, near the Russian border due east of Helsinki, retired Finnish combat engineer Ilkka Lansivaara had hung his own NATO flag from the side of his house.
“It’s a special day for Finland,” said Lansivaara, 70, a former soldier whose father was an air force pilot during World War Two. “Now we have power also…
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