Finland is now an official member of NATO

Finland joined NATO under the impression of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto presented his country’s Act of Accession to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday. With this step, the recording process was finally completed.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Blinken spoke of a “historic day” for NATO and Finland. The alliance now has 31 members instead of 30.

After the certificate was issued, the Finnish flag would be raised for the first time in front of NATO headquarters – alphabetically between Estonia and France. In addition to Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, 30 foreign ministers from the other current member states were also expected. Immediately after the ceremony, the first meeting of NATO foreign ministers, in which Finland participates as an official member, was to begin.

Finland’s admission came exactly 74 years after NATO was founded on April 4, 1949 in Washington. Stoltenberg said he could hardly think of anything better than to celebrate the anniversary of Finland’s accession.

The Norwegian also made it clear that he sees NATO’s expansion to the north as a sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policies are failing. A stated goal of the invasion of Ukraine was to have less NATO on the Russian border and prevent new memberships, the Norwegian said. Now Putin gets the exact opposite: more NATO troops in the eastern part of the alliance and more NATO members.

Finland shares a 1340 km border with Russia. The Kremlin has criticized its neighbor’s entry into NATO as a threat to its own security. “NATO expansion is an attack on our security and Russia’s national interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, according to the Interfax news agency. Russia is forced to take countermeasures accordingly.

Finland’s entry into NATO is perhaps one of the most profound geopolitical consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine to date. For decades, the Scandinavian country with its approximately 5.5 million inhabitants had placed great value on freedom from military alliances. With Finland’s accession, NATO’s external border towards Russia has more than doubled.

Sweden also wants to join NATO. However, this accession has so far been blocked by alliance members Türkiye and Hungary. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accuses Swedish politicians of a lack of action against “terrorist organisations”. Ankara is particularly concerned about the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK. Hungary, on the other hand, recently criticized Swedish rulings on the rule of law and corruption – although the Swedes had actually long since expected objections from Budapest.

(yam/sda/dpa)