– We welcome Finland as NATO’s 31st member state. Tomorrow we will raise the Finnish flag at the headquarters for the first time, says Jens Stoltenberg. The historic moment will be marked with a ceremony with speeches from Secretary-General Stoltenberg and Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö. The official entry into the alliance was announced at a press conference in Brussels today. – This makes Finland safer and our alliance stronger. It will be a good day for Finnish and Nordic security, Stoltenberg said. Sweden, which now stands alone without a defense alliance behind it, will also benefit from Finland’s entry, believes Stoltenberg. – There are no signs that Putin is preparing for peace. He is preparing for more war. NATO is preparing to support Ukraine as long as it is needed, Stoltenberg said at the press conference. Photo: JOHANNA GERON / Reuters – Sweden will also be safer. We have now seen the fastest ratification process in modern history. All allies agree that Sweden’s entry should also happen quickly. Tomorrow, the foreign ministers of NATO will meet. It will be the first time Finland participates as a full member. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba will speak during the meeting. – We don’t know when the war will end. But when it does, we must have solutions in place so that Ukraine can deter aggression from outside, says Stoltenberg. Less than an hour after the press conference, news agencies reported that Russia will strengthen military capabilities in the northwest in response to Finland’s NATO membership. Great excitement There has been excitement right up to the end. Barely three weeks ago, Finland’s President Niinistö was received with pomp and splendor in Turkey by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The atmosphere was good and both handshakes and broad smiles between them emphasized that Finland would finally be allowed to become a member of NATO. All 30 countries had to say yes, and Turkey was the country that held back. Time was short before the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting tomorrow. First, Turkey had to hand in its yes to the US Department of Justice, which handles such cases in NATO. It took some time, and it was only until recently that American lawyers got the papers so that they could deal with it urgently. Finally, the Finnish president must hand over a letter to the NATO chief in which he accepts NATO’s conditions for membership. What does this mean for Finland? Finland has been an official partner in NATO since 1994, and participated in several exercises with the alliance since the end of the Cold War. Finland shares a 1,340 km long border with Russia and has been at war with its neighbors to the east several times. Finland has been neutral. But Putin’s war of invasion in Ukraine led to a desire to join NATO. Finland and Sweden applied for membership in Nato on 18 May last year. Photo: JOHANNA GERON / AP When it became clear that NATO cannot immediately deploy nuclear weapons on Finnish soil, or had any plans for permanent military bases in Sweden, a large majority of Finnish politicians approved NATO’s statutes. NATO has previously given Finland security guarantees and since they became an applicant country they have sat around the table in NATO as observers. NATO membership for Finland means that they are now covered by Article Five of NATO’s statutes. This means that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all. Going from observer status to gaining decision-making authority in NATO. Will be covered by Article 5, which means that an attack on a country is an attack on the entire defense alliance. Finland commits to spending 2 percent of its GDP on defense. They accept that they are part of an alliance that has nuclear weapons, even if there is no question of deploying nuclear weapons in Finland or establishing permanent NATO bases in Finland. For NATO, this means that the alliance will double its border with Russia. The alliance is also significantly strengthened militarily. Finland is known for having a good air force. They have F-18 fighters and will soon get the even more modern F-35. Finand also has a large army. Intense diplomacy The tension has been linked to Turkey’s stance. In March this year, the country agreed to Finnish NATO membership, but it is still uncertain for Sweden. Sweden and Finland initially wanted to join NATO at the same time, but when it turned out that Sweden’s application would be a bigger nut to crack and that Finland could join alone, Finnish membership was unproblematic for Turkey. NATO’s Norwegian Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has always wanted Sweden and Finland to join NATO at the same time. But it didn’t work out that way. – Sweden has opened its arms to terrorists, Erdogan said a short time ago. Turkey sees Sweden as a free haven for Kurdish terrorist groups, and has asked the Swedes to extradite 120 people who reside in Sweden. That mess was not improved by the Danish extremist Rasmus Paludan burning a Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. It led to violent protests in Turkey and elsewhere in the Middle East. Intense diplomacy from Sweden and NATO allies has led to Turkey now being in a dialogue, but Sweden’s membership still seems to be uncertain.
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Finland becomes a NATO member on Tuesday – raises the Finnish flag in NATO – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
