Finland officially joined NATO as its 31st member, raising the blue-and-white flag of the Nordic nation alongside those of its Western allies outside NATO’s headquarters in Brussels.
At the ceremony, guests including the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the president, foreign, and defense ministers of Finland clapped and yelled “bravo.” Sauli Niinistö, the president of Finland, remarked that it was a “tremendous day for Finland and a crucial day for NATO.”
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Joe Biden said NATO had proven to be more unified than ever, and he enthusiastically welcomed Finland’s accelerated accession process’ conclusion. Sweden and Finland, which border Russia on a 1,340 km (830 mi) stretch of land, simultaneously submitted membership applications to NATO, breaking with years of military neutrality in response to the Russian invasion. Sweden’s application is still being held up by Turkey and Hungary, despite Turkey last week becoming the final NATO member to approve Finland’s. Finland has stated that it is uncertain if it would be able to join before the anticipated NATO meeting in July.
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, also congratulated Finland, noting that the alliance became the only effective guarantee of security in the region. Finland’s foreign minister Pekka Haavisto presented Blinken, the official custodian of the NATO treaty, with his country’s accession documents, bringing Finland into the largest military alliance in the world. Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, greeted Finland’s entry into the coalition, stating that Finland “now has the strongest friends and allies in the world” and that Sweden would follow soon after Finland as a full member. President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was to weaken NATO, but Blinken claimed that Putin had “once again precipitated something he claims to wish to avert.” Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, stated that Helsinki’s acceptance of NATO was an “encroachment on our security and Russia’s national interests” and that Moscow will closely monitor any future deployments of NATO forces there.
The Finnish foreign ministry declared that the Russian Federation will be forced to adopt military-technical and other punitive measures to offset the dangers to their national security stemming from Finland’s admission to NATO. Russia declared on Monday that it will increase its military strength in its western and northern territories, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg downplayed Putin’s threat to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus last month.
Finland is now subject to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, which states that any attack on one of the alliance’s members will be regarded as an attack against them all. Finland has 280,000 combat troops and one of Europe’s greatest artillery arsenals and contributes a strong military to the alliance. The Washington Treaty that established NATO was signed on April 4, 1949, which is the 74th anniversary of Finland’s entrance.
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