Finnish leaders said on Thursday it would apply to join NATO “without delay”, with Sweden expected to follow, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine looked set to bring about the very expansion of the Western military alliance that Vladimir Putin aimed to prevent.
The decision by the two Nordic countries to abandon the neutrality they maintained throughout the Cold War would be one of the biggest shifts in European security in decades.
Finland and Sweden are the two biggest EU countries that had yet to join NATO, and Finland’s 1,300-km (800-mile) border will more than double the frontier between the U.S.-led alliance and Russia, putting NATO guards a few hours’ drive from the northern outskirts of St Petersburg.
“Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay,” President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a joint statement. “We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the Finns would be “warmly welcomed” and promised an accession process that would be “smooth and swift”. Finnish membership would boost both Finland’s security and that of the alliance, he said.
Moscow called Finland’s announcement a direct threat to Russia, and threatened retaliation, including unspecified “military-technical” measures.
Asked whether Finland’s accession to NATO posed a direct threat to Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Definitely. NATO expansion does not make our continent more stable and secure.
“This cannot fail to arouse our regret, and is a reason for corresponding symmetrical responses on our side,” he added, without specifying the possible responses. Russian officials have spoken in the past about measures including potentially stationing nuclear-armed missiles on the Baltic Sea.
Finland’s announcement drew fury from the Kremlin, which called it a direct threat to Russia and threatened an unspecified response.
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