US President Joe Biden has urged Turkey and Hungary to conclude their ratification processes for Sweden to join NATO “without delay” as he welcomed Finland’s accession to the military alliance.
“I look forward to welcoming Sweden as a NATO member as soon as possible,” Mr Biden said in a statement.
Turkey has held up the application over claims – denied by Sweden – that it harbours wanted Kurdish terrorists.
However Turkey is expected to lift its objections in due course.
Finland’s move ends decades of military non-alignment, with the move prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The Kremlin believes that this is the latest aggravation of the situation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“And this forces us to take countermeasures… in tactical and strategic terms.”
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NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Finland’s move was triggered directly by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“President Putin had as a declared goal of the invasion of Ukraine to get less NATO,” he told reporters at NATO’s Brussels headquarters, speaking hours before Finland was officially to become a member.
“He is getting exactly the opposite… Finland today, and soon also Sweden will become a full-fledged member of the alliance,” Mr Stoltenberg said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has hailed Finland joining NATO as a “historic day”.
“I’m tempted to say this is maybe the one thing we can thank Mr Putin for, because he once again here has precipitated something he claims to want to prevent by Russia’s aggression,” Mr Blinken said.
He also echoed President Biden’s sentiments, saying: “Sweden is also a strong and capable partner that is ready to join NATO.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Finland, hailing the military alliance as the “only effective guarantee of security in the region” in the face of Russian “aggression”.
“My sincere congratulations to Finland and President Sauli Niinisto on joining NATO on the 74th anniversary of its founding,” Mr Zelensky said on social media.
End of Cold War neutrality
During World War II, an outgunned and outmanned Finland defeated an invading Soviet Army, the event known as the Winter War.
But later Moscow was able to coerce Finland into a Cold War neutrality, which has formally ended today.
Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has radically changed decades of policy and public opinion in Helsinki.
As a result, Russia’s border with NATO has doubled, as Finland’s border is 1,300km long.
Any attack on Finland will come under NATO’s mutual defence guarantee. Already, NATO surveillance flights have been taking place in Finnish airspace.
In March, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway signed a letter of intent to form a combined air defence system to counter the rising Russian threat.
Sweden was meant to have joined the alliance at the same time.
Read more
5 things to know about NATO as Finland joins alliance
Additional reporting: AFP and Reuters
US calls for Swedish NATO membership ‘without delay’
Source: Viral Trends Report
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