Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday that his country will decide “to pursue NATO membership in the next days,” according to a statement from Niinistö’s office.

In their first encounter in 2012, Niinistö informed Putin that “any sovereign nation enhances its security.”

And that “this is what is occurring now, too,” the statement added.

“Reiterated his sincere concern for the human suffering caused by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine,” Niinistö said, “stressing the importance of peace.”

He also “conveyed the messages on securing the evacuation of civilians delivered earlier in the same week by (Ukraine’s) President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.”

The statement read, “President Niinistö told President Putin how fundamentally the Russian demands in late 2021 aiming at preventing countries from joining NATO and Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 have altered the security environment of Finland.”

“The conversation was direct and straight-forward and it was conducted without aggravations. Avoiding tensions was considered important,” Niinistö is quotes over here.