Bild Reports Russia Demanded Finland Leave NATO at the Abu Dhabi Talks: Helsinki Says It Is Not Negotiable, the Kremlin Denies the Demand Was Made
The German newspaper Bild reported on Friday, November 13, that Russian envoys at the Ukraine peace talks in Abu Dhabi had put forward a broad list of demands, including that Finland leave NATO and return to its earlier neutrality, that NATO withdraw its troops from the Baltic states and set up no bases there, and that firm guarantees block Ukraine's future membership of the alliance. Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11 under American mediation. Bild attributed the list to informal contacts around the talks and did not name its sources.
Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen responded the same day, telling Finnish media including the public broadcaster Yle that Finland's NATO membership is in no way open to negotiation and that Russia knows this, calling it outrageous that such a demand was even proposed. He said Moscow has been pressing similar claims for years, including in 2021, seeking self-restraint by NATO members that serves Russian interests, and that he has no great expectations that Russia is treating the Abu Dhabi talks seriously.
Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said Russia's negative views on Finland's membership came as no surprise, while stressing that the decision belongs to Finland and the alliance. Finland applied to join NATO after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and formally became a member on April 4, 2023.
The Kremlin denied the report the same day. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had not demanded Finland's withdrawal from NATO and that the subject had not been discussed, according to Interfax. GSM's earlier coverage of the Abu Dhabi talks themselves and of Europe's negotiating team is linked below.
Related: Kremlin: Russia Has Not Yet Agreed to European Participation in Ukraine Talks
Source: Bild
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：赫尔辛基参议院广场与赫尔辛基大教堂（资料图）。JIP 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Senate Square and Helsinki Cathedral in Helsinki (file photo). Photo by JIP, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2026-11-13Bild Reports Russia Demanded Finland Leave NATO at the Abu Dhabi Talks: Helsinki Says It Is Not Negotiable, the Kremlin Denies the Demand Was MadeThis story
