BRUSSELS (AP) – Finland joined the NATO military alliance on Tuesday, dealing a major blow to Russia in a historic realignment of the continent triggered by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Nordic country’s accession doubles Russia’s border with the world’s largest security alliance and represents a major shift in the European security landscape: the nation adopted neutrality following its defeat by the Soviets in World War II. But its leaders signaled plans to join the alliance just months after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine sent a shiver of fear from Moscow’s neighbors.
The move is a strategic and political blow to Putin, who has long complained about NATO’s expansion into Russia and used it in part as justification for the invasion.
Russia warned it would be forced to take “retaliatory measures” to address what it called security threats created by Finland’s accession. He also warned that he would strengthen forces near Finland if NATO sent additional troops or equipment to the 31st member country.
The alliance says it poses no threat to Moscow.
via the Associated Press
Neighboring Sweden, which has avoided military alliances for more than 200 years, also applied. But objections from NATO member states Turkey and Hungary delayed the process.
Alarmed by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year, Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) border with Russia, applied to join in May, setting aside years of military nonalignment to seek protection under the organization’s security umbrella .
“I’m tempted to say that maybe that’s the only thing we can thank Mr. Putin for, because he has once again precipitated here something that he claims he wants to prevent through Russian aggression, leading many countries to believe that they have to more to take care of their own defense and ensure that they can deter possible Russian aggression in the future,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said shortly before accepting the documents formalizing Finland’s accession.
The US State Department is the depository of NATO accession documents.
Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the country “will be forced to take military-technical and other retaliatory measures to counter threats to our national security arising from Finland’s accession to NATO.”
Finland’s move is said to mark “a fundamental change in the situation in Northern Europe, which had previously been one of the most stable regions in the world”.
via the Associated Press
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Finland’s accession reflected the anti-Russian course of the alliance and warned that Moscow would respond according to the weapons placed by NATO allies there.
But Peskov tried to minimize the impact, noting that Russia has no territorial dispute with Finland.
It is not clear what additional military assets Russia might send to the Finnish border. Moscow has deployed most of its most capable military units to Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg previously said no more troops would be sent to Finland unless it asked for help.
“There will be no NATO troops in Finland without Finland’s consent,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, hours before the country’s accession.
The country is now protected by what Stoltenberg called NATO’s “iron security guarantee,” under which all member nations promise to come to the defense of any ally that is attacked.
But Stoltenberg refused to rule out further military exercises there and said NATO would not allow Russian demands to dictate the organization’s decisions.
via the Associated Press
“We constantly evaluate our posture, our presence. We have more exercises, we have more presence, even in the northern area”.
Meanwhile, Finland’s parliament said its website had been hit by a so-called denial-of-service attack, which made the site difficult to use, with many pages not loading and some functions unavailable.
A pro-Russian hacker group known as NoName057 (16) claimed responsibility, saying the attack was in retaliation for Finland joining NATO.
The claim could not be immediately verified.
The hacker group, which is said to have acted on orders from Moscow, has previously participated in a series of cyber attacks against the United States and its allies. Finnish public broadcaster YLE said the same group accessed Parliament’s website last year.
Finland’s entry, which will be marked by a flag-raising ceremony at NATO headquarters, coincides with the organization’s birthday, the 74th anniversary of the signing of its founding treaty in Washington on April 4, 1949. Also , coincides with an Alliance reunion. foreign ministries.
The ceremony will be attended by the President of Finland, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Ministers of Defense.
Turkey became the latest NATO member to ratify Finland’s accession protocol on Thursday. He will hand over the document officially consecrating this decision to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken before the ceremony.
Finland’s accession becomes official when its foreign minister hands Blinken the documents that complete the accession process. The US State Department is the depository of NATO accession documents.
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