Joint press conference

Thank you so much.
President Stubb, dear Alex,
It's great to see you again.
I also very well remember when we met when you were Foreign Minister.
I was Prime Minister at that time. It was hard of believe that Finland was going to become a member of NATO.
And even harder to believe that you were going to be the President and I was going to be the Secretary General of NATO.
But now we're here together.
So, it's hard to predict the path of two people like you and me. But it's great to be here. And thank you for hosting me and my delegation.

It has been two very interesting days where we have really got a better and deeper understanding of how Finland is really a highly valued and very capable NATO Ally. The membership in NATO makes Finland safer and NATO stronger.

And the briefing today with your Chief of Defence, with your top generals, demonstrates how Finland is an Ally with well-trained and well-equipped, large numbers of forces:
Air, sea, and land.
And also, your deep knowledge of Russia. And of course, the fact that by having Finland as a member, NATO has doubled its border with Russia.

And then you are an Ally that spends 2% of GDP on defence.
So, we really welcome the fact that Finland now is a full member of the Alliance.
And we also welcome the fact that we are moving very well on integrating Finland into all the NATO structures, the NATO defence plans and everything that we do together.

Then, we also welcome the many Finnish contributions to NATO missions and operations.
Just actually this week, you started to do air policing out of Romania.
That's yet another example of how you contribute to our shared security to our collective defence.

And then, Finland plays a key role in providing support to Ukraine.
You have delivered a significant amount of military support.
You have provided around 2 billion euros in military aid.
And as you mentioned, Alex, we will discuss at the NATO Summit and in the preparations for the NATO Summit, how to ensure that we stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.
Over the last months, we have seen some gaps, some delays in the provision of military support to Ukraine.
We need to ensure that that doesn't happen again.
And that's the reason why we are now working in NATO on how to establish a NATO mission for Ukraine.
And also, how to agree a long-term financial pledge to ensure that Ukraine gets the predictability and accountability they need when it comes to military support from NATO Allies to Ukraine.

And lastly, the stronger our long-term commitment is for Ukraine, the sooner the war can end.
Because then Moscow will understand they cannot wait us out.

So, for all these reasons, we really welcome what you personally do.
What Finland does for the Alliance.
This really helps make the most successful and the strongest Alliance in history even stronger and even more successful.

So, I'm looking forward to continue to work with you and not least to be together with you at the NATO Summit in Washington in July.

Elina Kervinen, Helsinki Sanomat: Thank you, Secretary General. At least France is reportedly considering sending military instructors to Ukrainian soil. In your opinion, what is the significance of this kind of move? And secondly, Russia commented this with saying that these structures would be legitimate targets. How would you comment on the possible risk of escalation? And to President Stubb: could Finland consider, in any situation, sending military instructors to Ukraine? Thank you.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: All Allies are providing support to Ukraine in different ways. We have to remember what this is: this is a war of aggression. Russia has launched a full-fledged invasion of an independent sovereign nation in Europe, Ukraine. And Ukraine has, according to international law, the right to defend themselves. And we have the right to provide support to Ukraine. And as I said, Allies are providing support to Ukraine in different ways. NATO has no plans to deploy forces to Ukraine. We are focusing on how we can establish a stronger framework for our support with an institutionalised framework for the support to Ukraine, and how to establish and agree a long-term financial commitment to ensure that we stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.

President Stubb of Finland: Finland has no plans to deploy troops in Ukraine. We're in conversation, of course, with our Allies about various options in which we can help Ukraine, whether financial, military or ammunition-based. But we haven't changed our line and we'll continue our steadfast support on the basis of the security agreement that we signed with Ukraine on the seventh of April, together with our Nordic partners, as outlined last Friday. And then, of course, together with our Allies, I think it's very important that when we are part of the Alliance, we work as an Alliance and not in separate blocks.

Question, Tengrinews: Hello, I'm from Kazakhstan, so I wanted to ask you, Mr. Stoltenberg: recently, the president of Kazakhstan, in his article to Euronews, called on the middle powers to join forces and take on the role of responsible global players, and strengthen the stability of the world. Because today's world is marked with geopolitical turbulence. So, what do you think about the role of middle powers, such as Kazakhstan, in promoting peace, and how do you assess the country's efforts to promote stability?

NATO Secretary General: First of all, NATO is an Alliance of North America and Europe, but we have partners around the world, including in Central Asia. And we appreciate these partnerships because we believe that we need to work closer with partners to help to address different global challenges. For many years, we worked with countries in Central Asia also to fight terrorism. We, of course, appreciate everything we can continue to do together to promote peace and stability.

President Stubb: I remember my first visit to Kazakhstan as Foreign Minister and Chairman of the OSCE in 2008. And I think your Foreign Minister at the time was Marat Täjin and the Speaker of Parliament was current President Tokayev. I spoke to him a couple of weeks back, more specifically about peace and the Peace Forum that will be organised by Switzerland and Ukraine, in Switzerland on the 15th and 16th of June. I attach a lot of importance to middle powers, and especially powers like Kazakhstan, in their capacity to mediate a peace in different types of ways. And of course, I hope that as many countries, both from the Global East and the Global South, will participate in that Peace Summit next week, including of course, Kazakhstan.

Maria Stenroos, Yle: Hello, Finland differs from other eastern flank countries because we have no permanent troops from NATO countries. Mr Stubb, how does Finland consider the need for troops, or permanent rotation of some kind, from the United States or from other NATO countries? And for Mr. Stoltenberg: does Finland need this kind of presence in this situation?

President Stubb: Well, we of course, warmly welcome any form of assistance and troops coming from our Allies and partners in NATO. At the same time, I always remind our international friends that we have 280,000 men and women in reserves that can be mobilised at wartime. If you look at our total defence or comprehensive security, we're very broadly covered. But this is, of course, part of the organisational operational planning of NATO. And as you will know, we have offered our services to be part of Norfolk, and we have also offered a land component element for our Allies. This would probably entail somewhere between 35—maximum 50—officers, which then later on could be supplemented by forward land forces, FLFs. Having said all of that, this is part of our identity in the Alliance, but I also want to stress that training exercises and operations linked to that, our de facto presence, in the sense that the operations that we have, for instance, 2000 American troops in Finland last week, they stay for a longer time than previously and this is a strong part of what we do and how we train. So I want to dissolve the idea that we will be bringing in brigades of NATO soldiers or American soldiers here. That we're not doing, but we do welcome intensive training.

NATO Secretary General: As the President said, Finland has very capable forces, big pool of reservists that can be called upon in crisis. The purpose of NATO is of course to be able to reinforce if needed. And that's exactly why we need the framework. We need the plans, we need the infrastructure. We need a command and control in place. So, we can quickly deploy, reinforce support to Finland if needed.

And the main purpose of that is of course to prevent any conflict, to prevent any attack. Because the purpose of NATO is actually not to fight the war, but to prevent the war by having credible deterrence at any stage all over the Alliance. And therefore, we also need the credible plans, capabilities to be able to quickly reinforce also Finland if that is needed. Exercises are part of that, partly to demonstrate our ability to deploy forces, to move forces. And also the exercise also demonstrates the fact that Allies are ready to deploy. And we have regularly NATO troops also in Finland, but of course they're not permanently deployed. But that demonstrates our ability to quickly be present if needed.

Lauri Nurmi, Iltalehti: Question for both, Lauri Nurmi from Finnish newspaper Iltalehti. Commander of the Norwegian Defence Forces General Eirik Kristoffersen said in a Bloomberg interview that NATO has only two to three years’ time to prepare for a Russian risk, even an attack. I would like to hear your comments on that and the timeframe. And first of all, is that a real threat, that the Russians could attack on NATO countries for example, Norway, Finland, Baltic nations, after they have rebuilt their capabilities?  We have heard so many warnings done by high ranking military commanders. Thank you.

NATO Secretary General: So, we don't see any imminent military threat against any NATO ally. And now of course Russia is more than preoccupied with the war in Ukraine. They actually moved a lot of forces from the vicinity of Finland, the Nordic countries down to Ukraine. Then of course, when the fighting ends in Ukraine, they can rebuild those forces. But again, that doesn't mean that we see any danger for imminent attack against any NATO Ally. Because NATO is 50% of the world's military might. NATO is the strongest Alliance, military power in the world. And the purpose of standing together, one for all for one, our collective defence Article Five is to prevent an attack.

And for 75 years, NATO has done exactly that. So, this idea that there is a kind of a countdown to the next war is wrong. We are there to prevent that from happening. We have done so for 75 years. We'll do that for at least 75 years more.

President Stubb: I fully agree with the Secretary General and I would like to mitigate the rhetoric that we quite often see in today's world. The alternative cost of Russia to deviate from its current attack on Ukraine is way too high. Does this mean that we're not prepared? Of course not. The best way to prevent war is to prepare for it. But the whole idea that a country like Russia would somehow attack or intimidate the biggest military Alliance in the world. I simply find rather implausible. We look at different scenarios every day, every week, every month. We have our operational plannings which are based on realities, which are based on knowledge of what the Russians are doing, what they could do. But we simply do not see it in the cards, that there wouldn't be a military threat right now to Finland, Sweden, Norway, or the Baltic states as such.