Finland should submit an application to join the Nato military alliance, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a joint statement on Thursday.
"Finland must apply for Nato membership without delay," Niinisto and Marin said.
This is a major policy shift triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Finland, which shares a 1,300 km (810 mile) border and a difficult past with Russia, has previously remained outside the alliance.
In the lead-up to their Nato accession, British prime minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday promised to defend Sweden and Finland against potential Russian threats as he travelled to both countries to sign mutual security agreements.
In the wider Nordic region, Norway, Denmark and the three Baltic states are already Nato members, and the addition of Finland and Sweden would probably anger Moscow, which says enlargement of the organisation is a direct threat to its own security.
This is the full statement from Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin:
During this spring, an important discussion on Finland's possible Nato membership has taken place. Time has been needed to let parliament and the whole society establish their stands on the matter. Time has been needed for close international contacts with Nato and its member countries, as well as with Sweden.
We have wanted to give the discussion the space it required. Now that the moment of decision-making is near, we state our equal views, also for information to the parliamentary groups and parties. Nato membership would strengthen Finland's security.
As a member of Nato, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance. Finland must apply for Nato membership without delay. We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days.
During this spring, an important discussion on Finland's possible Nato membership has taken place. Time has been needed to let parliament and the whole society establish their stands on the matter. Time has been needed for close international contacts with Nato and its member countries, as well as with Sweden.
We have wanted to give the discussion the space it required. Now that the moment of decision-making is near, we state our equal views, also for information to the parliamentary groups and parties. Nato membership would strengthen Finland's security.
As a member of Nato, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance. Finland must apply for Nato membership without delay. We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days.
Finland has always assumed a pragmatic, hands-on approach to national defense. When the Cold War ended, most European countries shifted their focus to expeditionary operations, reduced their defense spending, and developed smaller but highly professional and specialized military forces. Finland chose a different path — not least because of its 1300-kilometre border with Russia.
Helsinki maintained a strong national defense posture, the cornerstones of which are conscription and a large, well-trained reserve. The relatively cheap conscription system and having a large reserve instead of a large active-duty force allowed Finland to maintain a credible defense even when the share of GDP spent on defense was lower than desirable.
In the late Cold War, Finland spent approximately 1.6 percent of its GDP on defense, and in the early 1990s this figure saw a rapid increase to 1.9 percent due to the purchase of 64 F-18s from the United States in 1992. After that Finnish defense budgets kept declining and were at their lowest in 2001 (1.1 percent of GDP).
Since then, defense spending began to rise until 2012, when the Finnish military began a three-year period of reform that included defense budget cuts from 1.4 percent to 1.2 percent of GDP and the dissolution of several military bases, resulting in significant gaps in readiness that need patching up.
