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What would Finland bring to Nato?

"Finnish membership will make Nato stronger," said Stoltenberg. "Because Finland is a very advanced, strong power already. You have a modern armed forces, you have just decided to invest in new advanced aircraft — F-35s — you have a big army, well trained and well equipped. And Finland has strong democratic institutions and all of that put together, will ensure that Finland will contribute to transatlantic security."

"And of course, by being in Nato, Finland will receive security guarantees, it will not be alone, Finland will be part of the strongest alliance in history — 30 allies — defensive lines which have made it clear that we are there to protect and defend all allies against any attack," Stoltenberg said.

Smooth and quick

Husu asked Stoltenberg to explain what the next steps would be if Finland does apply to Nato.

"If the conclusion in Finland is to apply, then I'm absolutely confident that we will be able to have a very smooth and quick process. Fundamentally, there are two steps. One is to negotiate and agree [upon] an accession protocol — that can be done within a few weeks. And as soon as we have agreed that accession protocol, then Finland will actually participate in Nato meetings and activities at all levels, as what we call an 'invitee,'"

"After that, the next phase will be the ratification in the 30 parliaments in 30 member states. The signals, the messages we are getting from all allies is that they will try to do that as quickly as possible. But then of course, it will take some months before the accession protocol has been ratified in 30 parliaments," Stoltenberg said.

News service STT reported on Thursday thatFinland had secured pledges of security support during the ratification and accession process from the countries of US, UK, Germany, France.

Stoltenberg said that the military alliance would be able to find ways to address security concerns during the process, as well.

"I think it's also very important to remember that Russia has been against every Nato enlargement, and they have tried to threaten and to coerce aspirant countries from not joining, but they have never been able to actually do something," he said.

"It is not Moscow that decides"

The Nato chief said he was confident the alliance's 30 member states would welcome Finland "with open arms."

"For Nato, it is extremely important that it is not Moscow that decides what Finland can do or not do, it's for Finland to decide. Then it's for 30 allies in Nato to make the final decision on membership. But if Finland applies, there is a very clear message from all 30 allies that Finland will be welcomed with open arms and that we will make sure that the process is quick and effective," he said.

When asked about specific ways that Nato could offer Finland support during an eventual application process, Stoltenberg said there were several available options.

"First of all, this is something we would have to discuss with Finland, second, there are different ways [to offer support]. We can make political declarations, statements and we can also have more Nato presence in the region — we can have [military] exercises and all the [other] ways to increase our presence to demonstrate that the security of Finland matters to Nato allies."

"Of course as soon as we have welcomed the application, started the talks on the accession protocol, of course we will send a very clear political message that Finland matters to Nato security and that we will find ways to also express that through different kinds of security measures," Stoltenberg explained.