Foreign relations of Finland

During the Cold War, Finland's foreign policy was based on official neutrality between the Western powers and the Soviet Union, while simultaneously stressing Nordic cooperation in the framework of the Nordic Council and cautious economic integration with the West as promoted by the Bretton-Woods Agreement and the free trade treaty with the European Economic Community.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Finland unilaterally abrogated the last restrictions imposed on it by the Paris peace treaties of 1947 and the Finno-Soviet Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance.

[2] This was reversed in the 2000s, when Tarja Halonen and Erkki Tuomioja made Finland's official policy to resist other EU members' plans for common defense.

[3] Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in March 2022 that her government would have to respond if Finland became a NATO member.

The move was the final process in Finland's transition from conducting a foreign policy of neutrality to clearly standing as an official part of the Western bloc.

After Finland declared its full independence in 1917, the Finnish Civil War, including interventions by Imperial Germany and Soviet Russia, and failure of the Communist revolution, resulted in the official ban on Communism, and strengthening relations with Western countries.

For 872 days, the German army, aided indirectly by Finnish forces, besieged Leningrad, the Soviet Union's second-largest city.

Although the country was culturally, socially, and politically Western, Finns realised they had to live in peace with the Soviets and so could take no action that might be interpreted as a security threat.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 opened up dramatic new possibilities for Finland and has resulted in the Finns actively seeking greater participation in Western political and economic structures.

[10] In the European Union, Finland is a member of the Eurozone, and in addition, the Schengen treaty abolishing passport controls.

Finland is well represented in the UN civil service in proportion to its population and belongs to several of its specialised and related agencies.

The council also serves to coordinate social and cultural policies of the participating countries and has promoted increased cooperation in many fields.

In 1994, Finland joined NATO's Partnership for Peace; the country is also an observer in the North Atlantic Cooperation Council.

In 2003, Anneli Jäätteenmäki of the Centre Party won the elections after she had accused her rival Paavo Lipponen, who was prime minister at the time, of allying neutral Finland with the United States in the war in Iraq during a meeting with President George W. Bush, and thus associated Finland with what many Finns considered an illegal war of aggression.

Jäätteenmäki resigned as prime minister after 63 days in office amid accusations that she had lied about the leak of the documents about the meeting between Bush and Lipponen.

[11] Generally, Finland has abided by the principle of neutrality and has good relations with nearly all countries, as evidenced by the freedom of travel that a Finnish passport gives; though relations with Russia remain strained and are often tense due to past historical grievances, including Russian threats and past invasion.

Finland's partnership with NATO was historically based on its policy of military non-alignment, which changed following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

[14] On 7 March 2024, Stubb made his first foreign trip as Finland's new president to Nato's Nordic Response military exercise in northern Norway.

[31] On April 29, 2009, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development announced that the Finnish government had made a grant of 11.4 million euros to enable the Benishangul-Gumuz Region to upgrade its capacity to plan and manage its rural water supply and sanitation program to achieve universal access for all Ethiopians.

[35][36][37] South African exports to Finland include fresh and dried fruits, wine, pulp, paper, iron, steel, and coal.

[41] The relations between Colombia and Finland are harmonious as both countries share a similar ideology based on democracy, human rights and a lasting peace.

Before the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, longstanding US policy was to support Finnish neutrality and to maintain and reinforce Finland's historic, cultural, and economic ties with the West.

[96] Finland and Estonia are members of the European Union and the Schengen agreement, freeing international travel and trade between the countries.

Finland imports a lot of goods and basic necessities, such as fuel, and the two nations are agreeing on issues more than disagreeing on them.

Voluntary activists arranged expeditions to Karelia (heimosodat), which ended when Finland and the Soviet Union signed the Treaty of Tartu in 1920.

Recently, Finland-Russia relations have been under pressure with annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, which Finland considers illegal.

[120] Tensions between the countries rose in late 2008 when a news program on Finland's national broadcasting company station YLE accused Finnish weapons manufacturer Patria of bribing Slovenian officials to secure an arms deal.

Finnish politicians often consider Sweden's reaction to international affairs first as a base for further actions, and thus finally both countries often agree on such issues.

If there has ever been any dissonance between the two countries those were the Åland question in the early 1920s and the Swedish declaration of non-belligerent status during the Winter War.

Finland and Sweden are members of the European Union and the Schengen agreement, freeing international travel and trade between the countries.