Helsinki, Finland/Brussels, Belgium
Reuters
Finland formally joined NATO on Tuesday, its flag unfurling outside the military bloc’s Brussels headquarters, in a historic policy shift brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, drawing a threat from Moscow of “counter-measures”.
Finland’s accession, ending seven decades of military non-alignment, roughly doubles the length of the border that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization shares with Russia and bolsters its eastern flank as the war in Ukraine grinds on with no resolution in sight.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg delivers a statement during the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting at the Alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on 4th April, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Johanna Geron
Finland’s flag – a blue cross on a white background – was hoisted alongside those of the alliance’s 30 other members as a military band played in bright spring sunshine.
“For almost 75 years, this great alliance has shielded our nations and continues to do so today,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg declared at the ceremony. “But war has returned to Europe and Finland has decided to join NATO and be part of the world’s most successful alliance.”
Stoltenberg earlier noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had cited opposition to NATO’s eastward enlargement as one justification for invading Ukraine.
“He is getting exactly the opposite…Finland today, and soon also Sweden will become a full fledged member of the alliance,” Stoltenberg said.
Finnish President Saul Niinisto said Finland’s most significant contribution to NATO’s common deterrence and defence would be to defend its own territory. There is still significant work to be done to coordinate this with NATO, he said.
“It is a great day for Finland and I want to say that it is an important day for NATO,” Niinisto said at a joint news conference with Stoltenberg.
The Kremlin said Russia would be forced to take “counter-measures”. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Finland’s move raised the risk of the conflict in Ukraine escalating further.
In dropping non-alignment, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said, Finland was committing a dangerous historical mistake that would fray relations with Moscow and undo its status as a confidence-building presence in the Baltic Sea and Europe at large.
“This is now a thing of the past. Finland has become one of the small members of [NATO] that doesn’t decide anything, losing its special voice in international affairs. We are sure that history will judge this hasty step,” a ministry statement said.
Russia had said on Monday it would strengthen its military capacity in its western and north-western regions in response to Finland joining NATO. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said NATO expansion encroached on Russian security and national interests.
Ukraine also hailed Finland’s step. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram: “FI made the right choice. NATO is also a key goal for Ukraine.
Finnish and NATO flags flutter at the courtyard of the Foreign Ministry, ahead of Finland’s accession to NATO, in Helsinki, Finland, on 4th April, 2023. PICTURE: Lehtikuva/Antti Hamalainen via Reuters
End to military non-alignment
The event marks the end of an era of strategic non-alignment for Finland that began after the country repelled an attempted Soviet invasion during World War II and opted to maintain friendly relations with neighbouring Russia.
But the invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022, prompted Finns to seek security under NATO’s collective defence pact, which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
Since the end of the Cold War three decades ago, Moscow has watched successive waves of NATO enlargement to the formerly communist east of Europe with consternation, and the issue was contentious even before the invasion of Ukraine.
NATO has repeatedly stressed that it is solely a defensive alliance and does not threaten Russia. Moscow says the funnelling of heavy weaponry to Ukraine by NATO countries since the war began proves the West is bent on destroying Russia.
Finland’s accession brings NATO significant military capabilities developed over the years as it is one of the few European countries to have retained a conscription army through decades of peace, wary of Russia next door. In addition, Finland’s ground, naval and air forces are all trained and equipped with one primary aim – to repel any Russian attack.
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In Finland, people said their country’s entry into NATO made them feel more secure.
In Virolahti, near the Russian border, retired combat engineer Ilkka Lansivaara, 70 – whose father was an air force pilot in World War II – had hung a NATO flag from the side of his house. “It’s a special day for Finland. Now we have power also behind us, not just our own forces.”
People in the Russian city of St Petersburg, only about 150 km (93 miles) from the Finnish border, said Finland would make problems for itself by joining NATO.
“We used to consider it a brotherly country of the capitalist world, the closest to us in spirit, in … mutually beneficial economic relations,” said Nikolai, a St. Petersburg resident. “But now we’ll consider it as a state that is unfriendly to us.”
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Finland and its Nordic neighbour Sweden applied together last year to join NATO, but the Swedish application has been held up by NATO members Turkey and Hungary.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstroem told reporters it was Stockholm’s ambition to become a member at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July.
Turkey says Stockholm harbours members of what Ankara considers terrorist groups – an accusation Sweden denies – and has demanded their extradition as a step toward ratifying Swedish membership.
Hungary cites grievances over Swedish criticism of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s record on democracy and rule of law.
– With reporting by TOM LITTLE and ESSI LEHTO in Helsinki, Finland; and, KATE ABNETT, JAN STRUPCZEWSKI AND SABINE SIEBOLD in Brussels, Belgium.
