Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said they are investigating far-right figure Rasmus Paludan’s links with Russia and have found important evidence proving the connections.
Haavisto’s comments came after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Ankara might approve Finland’s NATO membership while withholding approval for the membership of Sweden over ongoing tensions.
Speaking to the YLE TV1 channel, Haavisto said they are probing if Russia or third parties that oppose Sweden’s NATO membership are trying to cause controversy.
Haavisto did not elaborate on the details of so-called evidence proving Paludan’s links with Russia.
Sweden has approved a constitutional amendment that enables it to enact tougher anti-terror laws demanded by Ankara. However, Türkiye suspended NATO talks with Sweden and Finland last week after a protest in Stockholm in which a far-right politician burned a copy of the Quran.
Ankara has also been outraged by a Swedish prosecutor's decision not to press charges against PKK terrorist sympathizers that hung Erdoğan's effigy by its ankles outside Stockholm City Court.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said his country wanted to restore NATO dialogue with Türkiye, but Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Thursday it was meaningless to restart discussions.
Çavuşoğlu also said there was "no offer to evaluate Sweden's and Finland's NATO membership separately."
