Finland announces move to join western military alliance
FINLAND’S president and government have announced the Nordic country intends to apply for membership of Nato, paving the way for the 30-member Western military alliance to expand amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin made the announcement at a joint news conference in Helsinki yesterday, despite the Kremlin warning that membership would be a “mistake”.
Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, has previously been a neutral country.
Mr Niinisto said: “This is a historic day. A new era begins.”
The Finnish Parliament is expected to endorse the decision in the coming days but this is considered a formality. Sweden also moved a step closer to applying for Nato membership after the governing Social Democratic party backed joining the trans-atlantic alliance.
Vladimir Putin has justified the war in Ukraine by claiming it is a response to Nato expansion in eastern Europe.
FINLAND’S president and government have confirmed that they will seek to join Nato, despite Russia warning that membership would be a “mistake.”
President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin made the announcement at a joint news conference at the presidential palace in Helsinki on Sunday.
Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, has previously been a neutral country.
“Finland is applying for Nato membership,” said Mr Niinisto. “A protected Finland is being born as part of a stable, strong and responsible Nordic region. We gain security and we also share it. It’s good to keep in mind that security isn’t a zero-sum game.”
Ms Marin said the decision was “historic”, adding: “As a member of Nato, we will also be responsible for the security of the alliance as a whole.”
The decision will now be passed to the Finnish parliament for ratification. It is expected to ease through with little opposition.
Vladimir Putin has justified the war in Ukraine by claiming it is a response to Nato’s expansion in Eastern Europe.
Mr Niinisto spoke to Mr Putin on Saturday. The Kremlin readout of the call said the Russian president had stressed the “end of the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake since there is no threat to Finland’s security”.
It added: “Such a change in the country’s political orientation can have a negative impact on Russianfinnish relations developed over years in a spirit of good neighbourliness and co-operation between partners.”
Sweden could soon follow their Finnish neighbours, overturning their decades-long policy of neutrality and non-alignment. Sweden’s governing Social Democratic Party has backed joining the trans-atlantic alliance.
Polls show that, since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, public support for Nato accession in Sweden is now at 50-60 per cent.
However, Turkey could oppose the move. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused both countries of harbouring “terrorist organisations” because of their stance towards the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK).
At a meeting of foreign ministers in Berlin yesterday, Nato deputy secretary general Mircea Geoana said he was confident Turkey’s concerns over Finland and Sweden joining the alliance could be addressed.
“I am confident [that] if these countries decide to seek membership in Nato we will be able to welcome them to find all conditions for consensus to be met,” he said.
It came as Russian troops retreated from Kharkiv, the country’s secondlargest city, after bombarding it for weeks, and Moscow’s forces continue to engage in a grinding battle for the country’s eastern industrial heartland.
Ukraine’s military said Russian forces are now pulling back from the northeastern city to focus on guarding supply routes, while launching mortar, artillery and air strikes in the eastern region of Donetsk in an attempt to “deplete Ukrainian forces and destroy fortifications”. Defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said Ukraine is “entering a new long-term phase of the war”.
Russian forces control a horseshoeshaped swathe of territory in the Ukrainian areas of Donetsk and Luhansk that make up the industrial Donbas region, where Ukraine has battled Moscow-backed separatists since 2014. In the southern Donbas, the Azov Sea port of Mariupol is largely in Russian control, except for a few hundred troops left in the city’s huge steel plant.
A convoy of between 500 and 1,000 cars carrying civilians out of the city was reportedly able to reach the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, while Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said authorities are negotiating the evacuation of 60 severely wounded troops at the steelworks.
After failing to capture Kyiv, Russian focus has shifted to the Donbas, where it aims to encircle Ukraine’s most experienced and best-equipped troops, and to seize territory still under Ukraine’s control. Russia has captured some Donbas villages and towns, including Rubizhne. However, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s forces had retaken six towns or villages in the area yesterday.
A protected Finland is being born as part of a stable Nordic region