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It has been established since last Thursday: Finland will be admitted to NATO. After an accession process of less than a year, the Nordic country with a population of 5.5 million becomes the 31st member of the defense alliance.
Finland’s entry into NATO was confirmed when the Turkish parliament gave the green light to the country’s entry on Thursday. But what does Finland’s accession to NATO mean? What consequences could this have for the war? Questions and answers on a historic day.
1) What is the significance of Finland’s accession to NATO?
For the other alliance states, Finland’s accession initially means an extended obligation to provide assistance. Should Finland, which borders Russia, be attacked by its neighbour, it would be seen as an attack on all NATO countries – and every ally would be called upon to lend their support. Finland’s membership extends the direct border between NATO and Russia by about 1,340 kilometres, more than doubling it.
At the same time, the alliance founded in 1949 will become bigger and more powerful with the accession of Finland. According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the northernmost EU country has well-equipped and trained military forces and is currently investing in more than 60 state-of-the-art F-35 fighter jets. Due to Finland’s geographical location, for example, the Baltic NATO states of Estonia, Lithuania and Estonia could be much better defended against a Russian attack.
2) What does that mean in numbers?
According to figures from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Finland is already among the countries that annually invest 2 percent of their gross domestic product in defense. This important NATO directive is currently not being met by Germany and a number of other alliance partners. The size of the Finnish Defense Forces is given by the IISS as 19,000 men and women, plus about 238,000 reservists. To protect the land borders, Finland has, among other things, about 100 Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks and hundreds of artillery pieces.
3) What does NATO’s northern expansion mean for Russia?
From Stoltenberg’s point of view, Finland’s admission is a clear sign of the failure of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policy (70). Putin declared on Monday that he was going to war against Ukraine with the stated aim of having a smaller NATO presence in Europe and preventing further expansion of the alliance. With Finland’s accession, NATO’s border with Russia will more than double. Putin gets the exact opposite of what he wanted.
At the same time, NATO emphasizes that there is no reason for Russia to feel threatened by northern expansion. The alliance also contradicts claims that the alliance really wants to encircle Russia. According to NATO information, only 1,215 kilometers of Russia’s more than 20,000 kilometer long land border currently borders NATO countries. Even if another 1340 kilometers are added, the common border is relatively small.
4) How does Moscow see Finland joining NATO?
Kremlin chief Putin has repeatedly made it clear that he has a major problem with NATO’s expansion into Russia. Moscow has reacted accordingly to the accession process in recent months. The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized that a neighboring country joining NATO would seriously damage Russian-Finnish relations. “Russia will be forced to respond appropriately – in military-technical and other terms – to take into account threats to its national security,” the ministry said in a May statement.
5) Can Russia react violently to accession?
In NATO, such a move is considered extremely unlikely. On the one hand, the Russian armed forces are bound by the war against Ukraine and in some cases seriously weakened. On the other hand, Putin would then also mess with the 30 other NATO countries. However, NATO considers it quite conceivable that Russia, for example, launches cyber attacks against targets in Finland or tries to alert the Finnish population with increased air force activities. In addition, Dmitry Medvedev (57), vice chairman of the National Security Council and former president, has threatened to station nuclear weapons in Russia’s Baltic Sea region.
6) What does accession mean for Finland?
Finland has managed a difficult balancing act between East and West for decades: given its extremely long border with Russia, the country tried to be on good terms with the giant empire to the east. At the same time, however, it was building ever closer ties with the West. Finland joined the EU in 1995 and was the only Nordic country to adopt the euro later. The Finns have worked as a close partner with NATO – but without breaking the relatively good contacts with Moscow.
The Russian offensive war against Ukraine abruptly ended this equilibrium between East and West. After many years of military non-alignment, Finland applied for NATO membership together with Sweden in May 2022, and the Finns have now been accepted in record time. This step is almost as important as EU membership, political adviser Risto EJ Penttilä told Finnish Radio. “EU membership meant that Finland was part of Europe and the West, but at the same time we were outside NATO,” he said. “Now we are integrated in Europe, but through this NATO membership we also have a strong relationship with the US.”
7) How is accession completed?
According to the Finnish Presidential Office, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (65) will hand over the accession certificate. Subsequently, a solemn ceremony is planned for NATO headquarters in Brussels at 3.35 pm, where the Finnish flag will also be hoisted there for the first time. In addition to Finnish President Sauli Niinistö (74), Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (42) and her 29 colleagues from the other current member states are also expected.
8) What’s next for Sweden?
The Swedes actually wanted to join NATO at the same time as their Finnish neighbours, but nothing came of it. The reason for this is that Turkey still does not want to agree to Sweden joining NATO and Hungary has still not ratified it either. Ankara denounces what Turkey sees as insufficient action against “terrorist organisations” and wants to force concessions, while Budapest denounces, among other things, Sweden’s rulings on the rule of law in Hungary. It is still unclear when both countries will also open the NATO door for Sweden.
Stoltenberg said of the blockade on Monday that he was absolutely confident that Sweden would also join. The country will not be left to its own devices and can already count on NATO to respond to threats or attacks against it. (SDA/dzc)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
