Finland applies for NATO membership; Sweden is expected soon
WASHINGTON: Finland’s political leadership announced this morning that it supports joining NATO “without delay”, paving the way for a major expansion of the military alliance.
The statement by President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin is not the last word on Finland’s decision, but the Finnish Parliament has for weeks been ready to approve a NATO success. Although it may take several days for the final checks and polls to take place, today’s announcement is a de facto NATO application.
“NATO membership would strengthen Finland’s security. As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defense alliance, “the two said in a joint statement. Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay. We hope that the national measures still needed to take this decision will be taken quickly in the next few days. “
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement that Finland “would be warmly welcomed into NATO, and the process of accession would be smooth and rapid …”. A Finnish membership would show that NATO’s door is open and that Finland is deciding its own future. ”
After Finland has formally applied, each NATO member state must ratify the application. It leaves a potential months-long process ahead, during which Russia could go to intervene. A Finnish defense official told Breaking Defense last month that Helsinki was preparing for Russian “consequences” if it were to join the NATO movement.
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A spokesman for the Russian government told Western media that NATO expansion was “definitely” seen as a threat to Moscow and promised a response of some kind, without going into details. Niinisto was asked on Wednesday to respond to Russian concerns and was clear: “My answer would be that you caused this. Look in the mirror” he said.
Although Finland is a first mover, it is generally expected that Sweden will also apply for membership in NATO in the coming days. The two nations have spent the past month in a diplomatic whirlwind of meetings with NATO members to both support their membership and to line up potential defensive partners in case Russia attacks one of the nations.
The loudest support for both nations came from Britain on Wednesday, when the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Sweden and signed a new security agreement. He was quoted by Reuters as saying, “What it says is that in the event of a disaster, or in the event of an attack on any of us, we will help each other, including with military assistance.” The United Kingdom later announced that an agreement had also been reached with Finland, although the details were scarce.
Just a few months ago, the idea came up that Finland would join NATO seemed far-fetched. A survey from 2021 showed that approximately 26% of Finns were in favor of joining the alliance, 40% were against and the remaining population was insecure. (In Sweden, a survey in 2022 found 42% for and 37% against – a stronger starting point, but still not enough to get politicians to take it seriously.) But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine saw an immediate increase in those who were for, to the point where the latest opinion poll in Finland supports NATO membership over 70%.