Finland joined NATO under the impression of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto presented his country’s accession document to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday. With this step, the recording process was finally completed. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Blinken spoke of a “historic day” for NATO and Finland. The alliance now has 31 members instead of 30.
After the certificate was handed over, the Finnish flag was to be hoisted in front of NATO headquarters for the first time – alphabetically between those of Estonia and France. In addition to Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her 29 colleagues from the other current member states were also expected to attend the ceremony. The first meeting of NATO foreign ministers, in which Finland is taking part as an official member, was to begin immediately after the celebration.
Finland’s admission came exactly 74 years after NATO was founded on April 4, 1949 in Washington. Stoltenberg said he could hardly think of anything better than to celebrate the birthday with Finland’s accession.
The Norwegian also made it clear that he sees NATO’s northern expansion as a sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policy is failing. A declared goal of the invasion of Ukraine was to have less NATO on the Russian border and to prevent new memberships, said the Norwegian. Now Putin is getting exactly the opposite – more NATO troops in the eastern part of the alliance and more NATO members.
Finland shares a 1340 km border with Russia. The Kremlin has criticized its neighbor’s NATO membership as a threat to its own security. “NATO expansion is an attack on our security and on Russia’s national interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, according to the Interfax news agency. Accordingly, Russia is forced to take countermeasures.
Finland’s entry into NATO is probably one of the most far-reaching geopolitical consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For decades, the Nordic country with its approximately 5.5 million inhabitants had placed great value on freedom from military alliances. With the accession of Finland, the NATO external border towards Russia has now more than doubled.
Sweden also wants to become a NATO member. However, this accession has so far been blocked by the alliance members Türkiye and Hungary. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Swedish politicians of a lack of action against “terrorist organizations”. Ankara is primarily concerned with the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK. Hungary, on the other hand, recently criticized Swedish statements on the rule of law and corruption – although the Swedes had not expected any objections from Budapest for a long time.
