Finland rejects reported Russian demand to quit NATO, saying membership 'is not a matter for negotiation'

Finland has rejected a reported Russian demand that it leave NATO as part of Ukraine peace talks, with Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen saying the country's membership of the alliance is not up for negotiation.

"Such matters are in no way a matter for negotiation. Russia knows that. This is absolutely outrageous to even suggest such a thing," Häkkänen told reporters on Friday, according to Finnish broadcaster Yle.

The German newspaper Bild reported that a Russian proposal made during talks in Abu Dhabi this week included Moscow keeping occupied Ukrainian territories, gaining control of new swathes of land, demilitarising ports in Ukraine, removing NATO bases from the Baltics, and Finland leaving NATO.

In exchange, Bild reported, Russia proposed withdrawing its nuclear weapons from Belarus and refraining from stationing intermediate-range missiles there.

However, it remains unclear which of the proposals Russian President Vladimir Putin would support after discussions between intermediaries, according to the report.

Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia, joined NATO in 2023, in a foreign policy U-turn prompted by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a new security framework for Europe after the war, raised by the Americans, "can be dangerous". "Russia certainly cannot make decisions on behalf of all the societies that are members of NATO," he told reporters on Friday.

Zelenskyy's comments were not in direct response to the demands reported by Bild, but came after a meeting between Zelenskyy and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Thursday in Dublin.

"Putin's desire to change borders in Europe is a fact. I am sure this is part of his concept of revising security guarantees in Europe. This is dangerous because, in my view, it is precisely things like this that lead to wars or escalations," Zelenskyy said.

"This was the first time this had been raised," the Ukrainian president told reporters.