Finland's parliament has begun a historic debate on the country's accession to NATO. It will last at least until late Monday night - about 150 deputies want to speak out.

The news was reported by Yle.

The debate was opened by Finnish PM Sanna Marin who pointed out that the situation has changed radically with Russia's open assault on Ukraine and that if Finland were to agree to Russia's demands that NATO not expand eastward, it would mean weakening its sovereignty.

Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto spoke about the results of discussions on the issue in Berlin at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers and what Finland intends to support. He noted that the process of approving the application may be accompanied by some difficulties and it is important "to show restraint and calmness." Acquiring membership could take anywhere from four months to a year, he said.

In speeches, deputies are mostly in favor of applying for membership.

The only criticism came from the Left Alliance, whose deputies believe that joining NATO would risk Finland becoming the front line in a potential war between Russia and the West. The leftist alliance insists that Finland should give up permanent military bases on its territory and the deployment of nuclear weapons - as Denmark and Norway did in their time.

Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen noted that Finland is not going to ask for the deployment of nuclear weapons on its territory, and no one has pushed Helsinki to do so.