WARSAW

After a meeting in Warsaw on Tuesday, the Polish and Finnish presidents said the two countries intend to cooperate more closely in military security, support for Ukraine, and other areas.

Polish President Andrzej Duda stressed how important it is for NATO to have Finland as a member. "Finland decided to join NATO (in April 2023). It will take part in the Dragon and Anakoda exercises with us. We would like to cooperate as closely as possible. This is very important to us," Duda said after meeting Alexander Stubb, his Finnish counterpart.

Though Russia launched its war on Ukraine in February 2022 in part to dissuade it from joining NATO, the offensive had the effect of making longtime holdouts Finland and Sweden both join the alliance.

Duda also spoke on the situation in Ukraine. “We spoke about the needs of Ukraine, about the support that should be provided to it. We also talked about securing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. About everything that is important for the security of our countries and the security of Ukraine,” he added.

Duda said Poland and Finland face similar problems on illegal migration from over the Russian and Belarusian borders. Since 2021, Russia and its ally Belarus have been sending irregular migrants from the Middle East and Africa over the Polish and Finnish borders.

“I told the president about the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border. We have common problems and we want to solve these problems together.”