BRUSSELS — Finland won final approval on Thursday to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after decades of non-alignment, a major shift in the balance of power between the West and Russia that has begun. from the invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey’s parliament has finally voted on what it takes for Finland to join NATO, meaning the alliance’s border with Russia will double. It was a diplomatic and strategic failure for Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, who made it clear when Russia invaded Ukraine that he intended to halt NATO’s eastern expansion.
With Finland’s cooperation, NATO will be in a stronger position to deter Moscow’s aggression, gaining access to a strong military force, as well as Finnish airspace, ports and sea lanes. Matti Pesu, a security expert at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, said the alliance would also be able to better protect the Baltic and Arctic states.
James G. Stavridis, a retired four-star US admiral and former top NATO military commander, called the move “a big plus for NATO”.
“Geographically, their joining the alliance would add a vast, difficult-to-defend border, complicating Putin’s calculus,” he wrote in an email.
Finland’s 830-mile border with Russia may create new holes, but Finnish experts note that Russia has had to move most of its military forces out of it to keep the war going. in Ukraine.
And Finland is already within range of Russian nuclear-armed forces and missiles based in the Kola Peninsula and St. Petersburg, “so Finland’s membership won’t be a game-changer,” Mr. Pesu said.
However, the Russian Embassy in Sweden on Wednesday threatened both Finland and Sweden with military retaliation if they joined NATO. Sweden’s membership application is being blocked by Türkiye and Hungary
“If anyone still believes that this will somehow improve Europe’s security, you can be sure that new members of the hostile bloc will become legitimate targets for retaliatory measures. Russia, including military measures,” the embassy said in a post on its Facebook page. .
With the vote in the Turkish Parliament, Finland is left with only a few paperwork, including the exchange of correspondence and placement of Finland’s accession documents, to be completed, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Washington.
Finnish leaders decided to apply to join NATO within weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 13 months ago. With its belligerent new neighbor, it decided that only NATO’s commitment to collective defense could give Finland the security it needed.
For centuries Finland and Russia have been in conflict. During the Winter War of 1939-1940, Finland resisted the invasion of the Soviet Union, although the Finns had to give up some territory and they agreed to remain officially neutral throughout the Cold War. .
However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Finland joined the European Union and developed a partnership with NATO, giving up its neutrality to non-military affiliation and having close security ties. with Sweden.
That worked until Mr. Putin decided to take over Ukraine, which brought back bitter memories of the Winter War in Finland and led to the country joining hands with Sweden to become the NATO member.
Finland plans to continue to push for rapid accession by Sweden, which has close military and security ties, but the Swedes have said they accept Finland’s decision to join alone.
It will be some time before Finland and NATO fully integrate their defense plans. Finland still has to decide, for example, whether it needs or will accept foreign troops or nuclear weapons on its territory, Mr. Pesu said.
Finland will hold national elections on Sunday and a final decision on NATO membership could help Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s campaign and her Social Democrats stay in power in a contested election. race very closely. The three largest parties essentially appear to be tied at less than 20 percent each in the latest poll.
In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also running for re-election, with a vote scheduled for May 14. While finally agreeing on Finland’s membership in NATO , he delayed Sweden. Erdogan claims that Sweden has become a haven for Kurdish separatists and other dissidents he considers terrorists.
Stockholm has made efforts to appease him, including passing new anti-terrorism laws. NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said Stockholm has fulfilled the commitments it made to Turkey at the last NATO summit in Madrid.
But Mr. Erdogan still did not budge.
His hardline stance towards the Kurds is popular in Turkey, and he has benefited by projecting international influence and leverage within NATO, and as a potential mediator between Ukraine and Ukraine. Russia. Erdogan this week announced that Putin could visit Turkey on April 27 for the inauguration of the country’s first nuclear power reactor, built by the country’s state nuclear energy company. Russia, Rosatom – an event clearly timed to aid his political campaign.
Unlike most European countries, Finland did not shrink its army after the collapse of the Soviet Union. So it brings a lot of benefits to a country of only about 5.6 million people.
The number of active-duty troops in Finland’s defense force is a modest 23,000, but its wartime strength could rapidly increase to 280,000 due to the expanded conscription system.
And Finland’s artillery force is the largest and best equipped in Western Europe, with about 1,500 guns, including 700 howitzers, 700 heavy mortars and 100 rocket launchers, according to the report. report. an analysis by the Wilson Center, a Washington-based research organization.
A key designer of the Finnish icebreakers, officials say, will also play a key role in conducting maritime operations in the increasingly contested Arctic region.
Hungary has also blocked the Swedish app. The Hungarian leader, Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has a warm relationship with Putin and, like Türkiye, continues to buy Russian gas and oil.
Mr Orban has previously said he supported the Swedish effort, but a statement on Wednesday from his spokesman, Zoltan Kovacs, opposed what he said was the “openly hostile stance” of the Swedish government. Sweden for Hungary and Turkey. Mr Kovacs said the Hungarian government understood why Sweden sought to become part of the union, but “there are many grievances that need to be resolved before the country’s accession is ratified”.
Hungarian officials have complained that Sweden is particularly critical of the Hungarian constitutional and legal changes and their threat to the rule of law, despite most of the Union’s member states. The European Union also raised similar concerns.
Turkey’s vote clears the way for Turkey to submit a letter of acceptance to the United States for submission at the State Department along with letters of acceptance from Finland from 29 other NATO countries, according to the report. Article 10 of the treaty establishing NATO.
The State Department will then notify Mr. Stoltenberg that the conditions have been met for Finland to become a member of NATO.
Eric Schmitt reporting contributions from Washington, and Ben Hubbard from Istanbul.
