The war in Ukraine has lasted ten days today. President of the Republic Sauli Niinistö visited the United States at the White House to meet with US President Joe Biden. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi criticized NATO and several foreign media are silent in Russia over a new media law.
We compiled for this story the three most important events of the previous evening and last night in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
1. Niinistö met Biden at the White House
The president of the Republic Sauli Niinistö visited the White House on Friday, where he met with the President of the United States Joe Biden. Niinistö said that the most important part of the visit was that Finland and the United States are now expected to “set in motion a process to increase defense and security co-operation”.
– Finland has clearly moved towards closer co-operation with the United States, Niinistö told the Finnish media at a press conference after the event.
According to the President, in addition to Finland, other Nordic countries are also involved in the process of intensifying co-operation with the United States.
Underlining this, President Joe Biden wanted to call the Swedish Prime Minister at the end of the visit To Magdalena Andersson. The call was also successful.
Senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute Matti Pesu says Niinistö ‘s visit will remain in the history books, but its significance cannot yet be assessed.
– In an extremely tense situation, we will go to the United States and make it clear that cooperation will be intensified. If you think about Finland’s foreign policy, it is an exceptionally bold and spectacular act. From there, we went to get a security policy backrest, and we got one now as well, Pesu told STT at night.
You can read the follow-up visit to Niinistö here and a summary of the event here.
2. Zelenskyi criticized NATO
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi condemns NATO ‘s decision not to declare Ukrainian airspace a no – fly zone on Friday.
– Knowing that new attacks and human casualties are inevitable, NATO deliberately decided not to close Ukrainian airspace, Zelenskyi said in a videotaped statement.
– Today, the alliance gave the green light to the future bombing of Ukrainian towns and villages by refusing a no-fly zone, Zelenskyi continued.
He also said he believed NATO countries thought closing the skies over Ukraine would provoke Russia to attack NATO directly.
3. Foreign media outlets are leaving Russia
President of Russia Vladimir Putin in the evening signed a law banning the dissemination of “false news” about Russia’s military action under the threat of 15 years in prison. The Russian parliament passed the bill earlier on Friday.
With the law, for example, the British and Swedish broadcasters BBC and SVT have stopped reporting from Russia. SVT says it will take its correspondent home from Moscow and will reassess the situation regarding the posting of the correspondent later.
– This law seems to criminalize independent journalism, the BBC’s chief executive Tim Davie said.
Canada’s national public service television and radio company CBC says it will temporarily stop reporting from Russia, as have US news agencies Bloomberg and news channels CNN, ABC News and CBS News.