That Finland and Sweden join NATO “would show that Putin gets the opposite of what he wants”
NATO will show President Vladimir Putin that he gets the opposite of what he wants when he behaves aggressively towards another nation by hastily accepting Finland and Sweden into the military family, said the head of the treaty, Jens Stoltenberg.
The two countries have expressed a strong interest in signing the 30-member Transatlantic Treaty since Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February.
Stoltenberg, the alliance’s secretary general, spoke to young leaders at NATO’s youth summit in Brussels on Thursday, saying that if Finland and Sweden began trying to join, the accession process would be accelerated. This, he suggested, would be a significant blow to Putin’s efforts to intimidate the alliance by starting a war at its border.
“It is up to Finland and Sweden to decide and NATO will respect their decisions regardless. It is the exact opposite of what Russia is doing, they are trying to intimidate and threaten countries to do what Russia wants,” Stoltenberg said.
If the condition is that they apply, then we will welcome them with open arms.
“I am convinced that the connection process can go very quickly.
“It will show President Putin that he gets exactly the opposite of what he wants. He invaded Ukraine because NATO was at his borders and what he gets is more NATO.”
In a tweet posted on Thursday, Stoltenberg said that Finnish President Sauli Niinisto had updated him on “deliberations in Finland on potential NATO membership”.
Before starting the war in Ukraine, Putin demanded that NATO stop expanding and withdraw its troops from Russia’s borders. So the prospect of neighboring Finland and Sweden joining the transatlantic alliance is unlikely to be welcomed in Moscow.
Finland has a conflict-ridden history with Russia, with which it shares a 1,340-kilometer border. A recent survey among Finns showed that 84 percent believe that Moscow poses a significant military threat.
Sweden has avoided military alliances for more than 200 years and has chosen a path of peace after centuries of warfare with its neighbors.
Both countries put an end to traditional neutrality by joining the European Union in 1995 and deepening cooperation with NATO. However, a majority of the people in the two countries were strongly opposed to full membership in the alliance – until now.
Finnish and Swedish leaders have not yet announced a final decision on whether they want to join NATO.
The question of their potential membership is expected to be relevant at the NATO summit in Madrid in June.
Since Putin invaded Ukraine, Sweden has increased security and re-militarized the island of Gotland, which is the key to stability in the Baltic Sea.
About 40,000 soldiers from NATO countries are stationed across the Baltic states as well as Poland and Romania, which share borders with Ukraine.
Stoltenberg spoke to about 100 young adults at the youth summit in Brussels, as well as hundreds of others who looked online, and warned of the dangers of taking the peace after the Cold War for granted.
“Young people in NATO allies today have not experienced war,” he said. While acknowledging that this was a positive point, he said “it is also dangerous” because if countries take peace for granted, it can easily lead to “mistakes that create the conditions for war”.
The NATO chief said the alliance would continue its campaign to put “maximum pressure” on Moscow, which includes sanctions, to deter its ambitions to take over Ukraine.
He also said that the member states are prepared to continue to arm the Ukrainians in the long term in the hope of helping them drive out the invaders.
“We will continue to put maximum pressure on President Putin to end the war,” he said. – We must be prepared for the long term. “It is a very unpredictable and fragile situation in Ukraine, but there is definitely a possibility that this war will drag on for months and years.”
Mr Stoltenberg said that NATO nations supplying weapons to Kyiv through bilateral agreements had undertaken to upgrade Ukrainian military equipment from Soviet-era units to more modern and sophisticated parts.
On the issue of climate change, Stoltenberg said it was crucial for NATO to address it as it would avert conflicts.
“Climate change fuels conflict, conflict fuels war and that is why it is important for NATO.”
At the beginning of the summit, a vote by participants showed that young people perceive the spread of disinformation as the biggest challenge for global security. Asked what the most powerful tool to combat this is, Stoltenberg said a free and independent press.
Updated: April 28, 2022, 2:53 p.m.