Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if it were part of NATO: Finnish PM
Ryan King
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Russia’s bloody offensive into neighboring Ukraine may have been averted if the latter were a NATO member, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Tuesday.
Ukraine sought NATO membership in 2008, but that was foiled by angst from Western allies and domestic debate amid fears of alienating the Kremlin. Marin explained that Finland’s recent bid to join NATO is rooted in her belief that Russian President Vladimir Putin wouldn’t attack a NATO member.
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“We can look down the history and ask ourselves the question, ‘Should Ukraine already be a member of NATO?'” Marin said during an appearance at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “Then there wouldn’t be a war in Ukraine, and this is why also Finland, Sweden is ratifying a NATO membership.”
Finland, which shares a border with Russia, had long abstained from joining NATO, but after the Kremlin initiated the onslaught on Ukraine last year, Helsinki and Sweden quickly applied for membership. Putin had long bristled at the prospect of Ukraine and other neighboring states joining the alliance encircling Russia, which he views as a threat to national security.
“We want to become a member of NATO because we don’t ever again want war in Finland,” Marin added, voicing hope for ratification to take place “as fast as possible.”
Currently, Turkey is holding up Finland’s and Sweden’s ascension, much to the chagrin of other members of the alliance, including the United States. Ankara has laid out a handful of gripes with Finland and Sweden, including their support for Kurdish groups. Turkey deems its domestic Kurdistan Workers’ Party a terrorist organization and has opposed Western support for other Kurdish groups in the region.
“There shouldn’t be any problems, and I have also personally talked with [Turkish] President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, and he said … that there isn’t that big of issues with Finland, maybe some with Sweden, but for our perspective, it’s very important that Finland and Sweden are going to NATO together because we are sharing the same security,” Marin continued.
Finland has a history of tension with Russia. In 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland in the Winter War, but Helsinki thwarted a complete takeover by relying on ski troopers before ceding roughly 9% of its territory in the Moscow Peace Treaty.
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Ukraine’s ascension into NATO had been frustrated by the country’s close historical ties and the sprawling border with Russia, which makes admittance into NATO particularly provocative, as seen by the Kremlin. Additionally, Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and support of separatist groups later meant that Kyiv was grappling with territorial disputes that complicated a clean rise to NATO.
In December 2021, as Russia amassed troops and military hardware along its border with Ukraine, Putin reportedly demanded that NATO scale down its troop and weapons deployment in countries that entered the trans-Atlantic partnership. He also insisted that NATO rule out admitting Ukraine into the alliance, effectively nixing its open-door policy. NATO refused, and Putin later initiated the invasion after the 2022 Winter Olympics.