Sakkov: Russia can not stop Finland, Sweden from joining NATO | News
After Russia launched an attack on Ukraine on February 24, public support for joining the alliance has skyrocketed in both countries. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has said that the country, which shares a border of more than 1,300 kilometers with Russia, may apply in the coming months.
In the past, Russia may have had some influence in blocking the country’s accession and has threatened with “serious social and political consequences”, but Sakkov said that is not the case now – the country can threaten but in reality do little else.
“Previously, before 24 February 2022, Russia would indeed have had the opportunity to react to such actions by freezing economic relations or creating other such problems. At present, economic relations between the European Union and Russia no longer exist. So the scope for action is narrow, he says to ERR.
But nothing can be done to stop Russia from making threats, he added.
The ambassador said that Finland already has a very strong defensive ability and, if that were the case, it is believed that the membership process will not take long. He said that Estonia’s ratification process took 14 months and that it was likely that Finland’s and Sweden’s applications would be speeded up.
“There is a need to hurry up for political reasons,” Sakkov said. He believes that all 30 members could ratify the applications in between two and four months.
“That is, of course, my opinion, because in the end it is up to 30 sovereign parliaments to decide. But I think everyone understands that it will be useful to do it quickly.”
He said that Finns are also worried that something might happen in the time between the application and accession. This would be another reason to keep the process as short as possible, Sakkov told ERR.
At present, experts believe that Finland will submit an application followed by Sweden, rather than jointly, he said.
Last week, Sanna Marin told her party delegates that it was time for Finland to seriously reconsider its attitude to military fidelity.
Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine has forced Finland to reconsider its security policy, according to Marin, who said: “Russia is not the neighbor we thought it was.”
Every decision to apply for NATO membership would have to be made “thoroughly but quickly”, mainly this spring, she said in a speech.
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