Finns seek Nato membership without delay
Sweden expected to follow suit in bid to join alliance
Finland and Sweden are the two biggest EU countries yet to join Nato Finland’s 1,300km border will more than double the length of the frontier between the US-led alliance and Russia.
Finland said yesterday it would apply to join Nato “without delay”, with Sweden expected to follow, as Russia’s attacks on Ukraine looked set to bring about the very expansion of the Western military alliance that Vladimir Putin aimed to prevent.
The decision by the two Nordic countries to abandon the neutrality they maintained throughout the Cold War would be one of the biggest shifts in European security in decades. Moscow called Finland’s announcement a direct threat to Russia, and threatened retaliation, including unspecified “military-technical” measures.
Big setback to Russia
It came even as Russia’s war in Ukraine was suffering another big setback, with Ukrainian forces driving Russian troops out of the region around the second largest city Kharkiv, the fastest Ukrainian advance since forcing Russia to withdraw from Kyiv and northeast more than a month ago.
Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the Finns would be “warmly welcomed” and promised a “smooth and swift” accession process.
Finland and Sweden are the two biggest EU countries yet to join Nato Finland’s 1,300-km border will more than double the length of the frontier between the US-led alliance and Russia.
“Finland must apply for Nato membership without delay,” President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a joint statement.
Asked whether Finland’s accession posed a direct threat to Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Definitely. Nato expansion does not make our continent more stable and secure.”
Retaliatory steps
Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow would be forced to take “retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other nature”. Russian officials have spoken in the past about potential measures including stationing nuclear-armed missiles on the Baltic Sea.
Five diplomats and officials told Reuters that Nato allies expect both countries to be granted membership quickly, paving the way for an increased troop presence in the Nordic region to defend them during a one-year ratification period.
Putin, Russia’s president, cited Nato’s potential expansion as one of the main reasons he launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine in February.
Nato describes itself as a defensive alliance, built around a treaty declaring that an attack on one member is an attack on all, granting US allies the protection of Washington’s superpower might including its nuclear arsenal.
Moscow regards that as a threat to its security. But Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine has changed Nordic public opinion, with political parties that had long backed neutrality now embracing the view that Russia is a menace.