Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Finland would decide to apply for NATO membership in the coming days, the press service of the President of Finland reported.

"President Niinistö told President Putin how fundamentally the security situation in Finland had been changed by Russia's demands at the end of 2021 to prevent countries from joining NATO and Russia's massive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. President Niinistö announced that Finland would decide in the coming days to apply for NATO membership," the press release said.

President Niinistö noted that already during their first meeting in 2012, he told Putin that every independent nation maximizes its security.

"This is what is happening now. By joining NATO, Finland strengthens its own security and takes responsibility. It is far from anything else. Also in the future, Finland wants to manage correctly and professionally the practical issues that arise due to the neighborhood of the Russian Federation," the statement said.

Niinistö said that the conversation was straightforward, without tension. Also, the President of Finland reiterated his deep concern about the human suffering caused by the war Russia is waging in Ukraine.

"He also conveyed messages on securing the evacuation of civilians, transmitted earlier in the week by President Volodymyr Zelensky," the press service reported.

The phone call was initiated by Finland.

According to the Kremlin, during the conversation, Putin called Helsinki's rejection of the traditional policy of neutrality erroneous and said that a change in foreign policy could negatively affect Russian-Finnish relations.