Page "Foreign relations of Finland" Paragraph 1

During the Cold War, Finland's foreign policy was based on official neutrality between the Western powers and the Soviet Union, while simultaneously stressing Nordic cooperation in the framework of the Nordic Council and cautious economic integration with the West as promoted by the Bretton-Woods Agreement and the free trade treaty with the European Economic Community.

Finland did not join the Soviet Union's economic sphere ( Comecon ) but remained a free-market economy and conducted bilateral trade with the Soviet Union.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Finland unilaterally abrogated the last restrictions imposed on it by the Paris peace treaties of 1947 and the Finno-Soviet Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance.

The government filed an EU membership application three months after the dissolution of the USSR and became a member in 1995.

Finland did not attempt to join NATO, even though post-Soviet countries on the Baltic Sea and elsewhere joined.

Nevertheless, defence policymakers have quietly converted to NATO equipment and contributed troops.