BERLIN (AP) – The Finnish government says a “new era” has begun as it approaches NATO membership, hours before the ruling Swedish party backed its membership plan on Sunday. Transatlantic alliance In the background Russian war in Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday that the process of accession by Finland and Sweden could be very fast. Furthermore, he did not expect Turkey to stop the process.
Speaking after a meeting of top diplomats from the Alliance’s 30 member states in Berlin, Stoltenberg also expressed hope that Ukraine could win the war as Russia’s military advance appears to be slowing down.
In Finland, President Saul Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanaa Marin confirmed earlier statements that their country was seeking a NATO member at a joint press conference at the Helsinki Presidential Palace. The Scandinavian country, which has several times changed position with NATO, has a long border with Russia.
“This is a historic day. “A new era is starting,” Niinisto said.
The Finnish parliament is expected to make a decision in the coming days. After that, a formal application for membership will be submitted to NATO headquarters in Brussels, probably next week.
Sweden, which is also not in the alliance, took a step towards NATO membership after the ruling Social Democratic Party met on Sunday and supported its membership in the transatlantic alliance.
The plan to join the alliance will be discussed in the Swedish parliament on Monday, while Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson’s cabinet will issue a statement the same day.
“Our 200-year-old military reconciliation policy has served Sweden well,” Anderson said at a press conference in Stockholm on Sunday. “But the question is: does the non-aligned military party continue to serve us well?”
“We are now faced with a fundamentally changing security environment in Europe.
The NATO secretary general, meanwhile, tried to highlight Russia’s failure, which he believes could mean Ukraine’s victory.
“Russia’s war with Ukraine will not happen according to Moscow’s plan,” Stoltenberg said in a video link at a NATO meeting in Berlin when he recovered from a COVID-19 infection. “It was not possible to take Kiev. They left Kharkov. Their main attack on the Donbass stopped. Russia failed to achieve its strategic goals.
“Ukraine can win this war,” he said, adding that NATO should continue to strengthen its military support.
Norway, a Scandinavian member of NATO, said it welcomed Finland’s decision to join. Norwegian Foreign Minister Aniken Heutfeldt called the Helsinki move a “turning point” in Scandinavian defense and security policy.
“Finland’s NATO membership would be good for Finland, the Scandinavian region and NATO.” Finland has the full support of Norway, “Heutfeldt told The Associated Press in an email.
Heutfeldt said the Norwegian government would facilitate “the ratification of a speedy consensus from Finland’s accession to NATO by the Norwegian parliament.”
“We are now seeing unprecedented unity with NATO.” With Finland’s accession, we will further strengthen the Scandinavian wing of the military alliance. “
Stoltenberg said he was confident that Finland and Sweden’s accession process would be expedited. Meanwhile, the alliance will increase its presence in the Baltic region to stop Russian threats, he said.
“All the allies know the historical magnitude of the moment,” Stoltenberg added.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Bairbock responded to this opinion.
“Sweden and Finland, if you’re ready, we’re ready,” he said.
But NATO member Turkey has expressed concern over the two countries ’membership, allegedly supporting Kurdish militants whom Ankara considers terrorists.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has been leading an uprising against Turkey since 1984 and has claimed thousands of casualties in the fighting. Turkey is also outraged at US support in its fight against Syrian Kurdish militants linked to the PKK against the Islamic State.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşo.lu told reporters in Berlin that Finland and Sweden had also imposed defensive sales restrictions on Turkey, which he called “unacceptable”.
“This is not because we are against NATO enlargement, but because we believe that countries that support terrorism and pursue such policy against us should not be NATO allies,” Cavusoglu said.
However, Stoltenberg said his understanding was that Turkey did not aim to stay outside Finland or Sweden, but primarily to address its concerns.
“Turkey has made it clear that its intention is not to block membership,” he said.
However, Turkey’s challenge has led to complaints from Washington and Brussels that other NATO members could also use the accession process to obtain concessions from allies, which could aggravate and delay the process. member.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who spoke with Cavusoglu and will see him again at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York this weekend, declined to comment on the concerns. But he hopes all NATO members will support the proposals from Finland and Sweden.
“I am very confident that we will reach a consensus,” he said after a meeting in Berlin.
As part of the meeting in Berlin, Blinken met with Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kulba earlier in the week to discuss the impact of the war and how to reach Ukrainian wheat in international markets.
Danish Foreign Minister Jepe Kofod has rejected proposals that Putin’s opposition could prevent the alliance from bringing in new members.
“Now we see a world where the number one enemy of democracy is Putin and the mentality he represents,” Kofod said, adding that NATO will also side with other countries, such as Georgia, that he believes “exploited” from Russia. .
Reported by Yari Tanner from Helsinki. Matthew Lee in Berlin and Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul contributed to this report.
Source: Huffpost
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