Finland

Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has come out against allowing Sweden and Finland to join Nato, putting the two Nordic countries' hopes of joining ...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has thrown Sweden and Finland's potential NATO membership into doubt, just as both countries are on the cusp of applying ...

Public support for joining the organization in both countries has soared since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. "They are even members of the parliament in some countries," he added. Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said she was very confident that her country's membership bid would receive unanimous backing from NATO members. He also referenced NATO's acceptance of Greece as a member in 1952 as a mistake. Furthermore, Scandinavian countries are guesthouses for terrorist organizations," Erdogan said. NATO ascension for a new member state requires consensus approval from all existing members.

The statement of support for NATO from President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin had been expected, after the Finnish government recently ...

It is widely acknowledged among NATO officials that Finland joining the alliance would be a significant boost in countering Russian aggression because of how seriously the country has historically treated its own security. European diplomats and security officials widely assume that Finland could join the alliance quickly once negotiations start, as it has been buying military hardware compatible with its Western allies, including the US, for decades and already meets many of the criteria for membership. Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay.

The statement by the president and prime minister comes a day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited both Finland and Sweden to sign a military ...

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Sauli Niinisto and Sanna Marin make call after support in country for move trebles since Ukraine war.

Finland’s foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto, told the European parliament on Thursday that accession to Nato would strengthen security in the region. It has only been invoked once in the organisation’s history, in response to the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks. Nordic media have previously said the two countries were likely to submit a joint application. Finland must apply for Nato membership as a matter of urgency.” “History being made by our northern neighbours,” she tweeted. A positive decision would then be presented to parliament for approval early next week.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden have been considering applying for membership of the Nato military alliance, which would mark a major ...

Russia and Finland share a 1,300-km border. Other Nordic countries — Norway, Denmark and Iceland — joined the pact as founding members. Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has said the countries could join "quickly" and that he was sure arrangements could be found for the interim period.

Finland should apply to join the NATO military alliance, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a joint statement on ...

On 14 May, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin's Social Democratic Party, the largest group in parliament, is expected to establish its position on NATO membership. We look at what it means for Finns and for other NATO countries, including the UK. create an ever-mounting and totally unacceptable threat to Russia." While support for joining in Finland appears strong, Sweden is less clear, with only 50% of the population backing it and a number of politicians wedded to the Swedes' neutral stance that has been in place for more than 200 years. Of course, considering it is a pact that requires members to defend others if they are attacked, it potentially raises the odds that a country will have to be defended because the number of members would increase. But since the invasion of Ukraine, Finland is among a number of countries that have been forced to rethink their relationship with Russia, no longer certain that non-alignment is the safest approach.

Finland shares a 1,300km border with Russia and, after decades of tense neutrality, Moscow's war on Ukraine prompted a rapid swing in Finnish public opinion.

“There is criticism that this is far too short a time to discuss such a complex issue,” he said. Stockholm and Helsinki have indicated they will file formal Nato membership applications in tandem. “I will address this at the party board on Sunday. If the decision is to extend the time for the discussion, I will be happy.” A growing feeling of inevitability over the Nato application process has caused fury among some in the Social Democrats. Last year’s party congress backed retaining Sweden’s traditional policy of non-alignment while, in December, the Social Democrat-led government refused to back an opposition demand for a “Nato option” in its security policy. Responding to the statement of Finnish leaders, Russia said its membership of Nato would damage bilateral ties and prompt “retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other nature . . . to neutralise the threats to its national security that arise from this”. Russian state television said the main beneficiary of the Nato enlargement was the US, accusing president Joe Biden on Thursday of trying to erect a “new iron curtain from the Barents to the Black Sea”.

Finland has had a decades-long policy of military neutrality that would come to an end if it becomes a full member of the military alliance.

Finland has been reviewing its security policy in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which showed the Kremlin is willing attack a neighboring nation. "Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay." "NATO membership would strengthen Finland's security" and that Finland's membership would in turn "strengthen the entire defence alliance."

Not that Finland necessarily needed such a reminder; the then-Soviet Union invaded Finland about 80 years ago. But that was before Russia had nuclear weapons ...

With Finland and Sweden, the size of NATO countries is only 1.4 times the size of Russia in its entirety. One of the requirements of NATO membership is that nations spend a certain percentage of GDP on their military. When considering the size of the standing military for each country, the ratio is smaller. NATO is not contiguous, so land area is not a particularly useful metric, but aggregating the size of NATO countries relative to Russia is instructive. This doesn’t inherently make war more likely, but Finland’s shift to the West is the sort of change that Russia’s been hoping to prevent. The expansion of NATO over time has been toward Russia’s western edge, with the collapse of the Soviet Union 30 years ago prompting a number of former Soviet states and Warsaw Pact countries to seek and gain membership in the alliance.

Putin has failed to contain the military alliance, bringing it much closer to his borders instead.

The gap in Northern Europe that existed between Iceland, Norway and Denmark as founding members on the one hand, and Sweden and Finland on the other, will now close. Separately, NATO and its new members will also need to consider whether to deploy alliance forces on their territory in peacetime — an issue that now tops NATO’s agenda when it comes to Eastern Europe as well. Both countries have long invested in land, sea and air forces that are as good and well-trained as the best European militaries. Additionally, NATO membership comes with responsibilities, and by admitting Finland and Sweden, the 30 current members commit themselves to defending both countries in case of an armed attack. Had Ukraine been in NATO, Russia would have had to go to war against the entire alliance, including the United States. That is the lesson Stockholm and Helsinki — and NATO — have now drawn. But that’s mainly bluster, since Russia deployed nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad, the Russian outpost on the Baltic Sea, long before the war.

HELSINKI — Nordic governments have set about deepening regional defense cooperation against the backdrop of the very real expectation that non-aligned ...

We are in the process of deepening our operational cooperation that will enable us to improve our interoperability, deterrence and territorial defense,” the statement said. These are some of the benefits of NATO membership if we decide to join,” said Hultqvist. “The Prime Minister and President of Finland have sent a clear message. We hope that the steps at a national level that are still needed to make this decision possible will be taken rapidly over coming days,” the joint statement continued. “Now that the moment of decision-making is near, we state our shared views. Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Sanna Marin issued a joint announcement on Thursday backing NATO membership.

The dramatic move by Finland was announced by President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin. It means that Finland is all but certain to join Nato, ...

🇸🇪 will decide after the report from the security policy consultations has been presented. Important message today from 🇫🇮 President— Ann Linde (@AnnLinde) @niinisto& PM @MarinSannaon @NATOmembership. 🇫🇮 is 🇸🇪 closest security & defence partner, and we need to take 🇫🇮 assessments into account. “Nato membership would strengthen Finland’s security. The UK pledged on Wednesday to come to the aid of Sweden and Finland if the two Nordic nations came under attack. Previously, the Kremlin had warned of “military and political repercussions” if Sweden and Finland decide to join Nato. Finland’s president and prime minister have said they are in favour of rapidly applying for Nato membership “without delay,” paving the way for the alliance to expand amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Vladimir Chizhov tells Sky News he is "deeply disappointed and saddened" by Finland and Sweden's ambitions to join NATO and that Russia would have to ...

"When that final solution will look like - in detail - nobody knows. "NATO membership would strengthen Finland's security. like radars, perhaps". NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Finland would be welcomed and that the accession would be "smooth and swift". The ambassador said he was "deeply disappointed and saddened" by Finland and Sweden's NATO ambitions. Mr Chizhov's warning echoes the Kremlin's earlier comments that Finland joining NATO would "definitely" be a threat to Russia and would trigger "retaliatory steps".

Finland must apply to join the Nato military alliance "without delay", Finnish president Sauli Niinisto and prime minister Sanna Marin jointly said on ...

With Russia waging war in #Ukraine it's a powerful signal of deterrence." Baltics about to get safer," Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said welcoming Helsinki's decision. Finland lost around 10 percent of its territory in the subsequent peace agreement. "Finland must apply for Nato membership without delay. "Finland decided to join the Alliance. Nato is about to get stronger. "We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days," the joint statement of the president and the prime minister said.

It is the kind of scenario that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to avoid. Back before he unleashed the horror of a full invasion of his most immediate ...

A NATO senior official, speaking on background, said the membership process will be expedited to a degree and that the alliance is trying to clear as many hurdles as possible out of the way. "The challenge is that if they say they're joining the alliance, there's going to be a gap," Williams told CBC News recently. There is concern in both Scandinavian nations about the possibility one or more existing NATO members would hold up approval. "The 24th of February — that was the changing moment. The country is expected to apply for membership next week, setting off a security race against time. That was the game changer.