Finland joins NATO as allies delight in defying Putin’s demands
Joel Gehrke
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Finland will stand “as a full-fledged member of” NATO at a high-level meeting this week in a setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambition to “roll back” the trans-Atlantic alliance.
“It’s not for Moscow to decide who’s going to be a member of NATO or not,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters. “It’s for the applicant countries and for NATO to decide, and this [will be] clearly demonstrated here at the NATO headquarters tomorrow when we raise the Finnish flag and finalize the Finnish accession process.”
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That flag-raising ceremony will mark the culmination of a yearlong accession process sparked by Russia’s campaign to overthrow the Ukrainian government, a military adventure that convinced both Finland and Sweden to seek membership in NATO. Finland’s entry into the security bloc “more than doubles” the length of the border between Russia and NATO. It also brings one of Europe’s most capable militaries into the alliance.
“Finland is among the few countries in Europe that actually didn’t reduce the investments in defense, didn’t reduce the readiness of the armed forces at the end of the Cold War,” Stoltenberg said. “They continued, so they have invested on many years. They have trained and built a large army over many years and maintain that high level of readiness.”
The finalization of Finland’s application will prompt Russia to adjust its military posture in the border area, according to a senior Russian official.
“We will strengthen our military potential in the western and northwestern direction,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Monday, according to state media. “In the event of the deployment of forces and resources of other NATO members on the territory of Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia’s military security.”
Putin launched a three-pronged invasion of Ukraine last year, just weeks after unveiling a series of demands for Western officials. The Russian so-called draft treaty insisted that Western officials revoke their statement that Ukraine would eventually be allowed to join NATO and also demanded “that NATO facilities and all kinds of activities that are provocative for Russia need to be rolled back to the positions that existed in 1997,” prior to the admission of several states liberated by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Stoltenberg touted that ultimatum while celebrating Finland’s accession as a diplomatic defeat for the Kremlin.
“He wanted NATO to remove our forces, our structures from all allies that have joined after 1997 — meaning all allies in Central Eastern Europe — and he wanted NATO to make it absolutely clear that NATO’s door was closed for any new membership,” Stoltenberg said. “He’s getting the exact opposite, he’s getting more NATO presence in eastern parts of the Alliance, and he’s getting two new members with Finland and Sweden, and tomorrow, we’ll then finalize the Finnish accession process.”
The festivities will be marred somewhat by the fact that Sweden’s application to join the alliance remains stalled. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delayed the ratification of both applications due to their arms embargoes on Turkey and the Nordic states’ welcome of Kurdish refugees, whom Erdogan regards as affiliates of a Turkish Kurd separatist group. The three countries struck an agreement to resolve the disputes, but Erdogan has refused to deem Sweden in compliance with that deal.
And, as Ankara and Stockholm remain at loggerheads, Hungary likewise has begun to use the ratification process as leverage to pressure Sweden to help with other disputes between Hungary and the wider European Union.
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Stoltenberg downplayed the significance of the Turkish-Hungarian delay in ratifying Sweden’s application. He noted that the entire alliance agreed last year to invite Sweden to apply for membership in the bloc.
“That gave Finland and Sweden a special status,” Stoltenberg said. “Sweden is very much inside NATO, integrating into military civilian structures. Allies are ready to act, and it’s inconceivable that there were going to be any threats or military attacks against Sweden without NATO reacting and even more so with Finland as a full member.”