Finland becomes the 31st country of the Defense Alliance. “A good day for Nordic security,” said Secretary General Stoltenberg. Russia, on the other hand, wants to expand its military capacities.
Finland’s path to NATO has been clear since last week. And an accession date was also set on Monday. As early as tomorrow, Tuesday, April 4, Finland is to become the 31st NATO member. “We will hoist the Finnish flag for the first time here at NATO headquarters (in Brussels, note). It will be a good day for Finland’s security, for Nordic security and for NATO as a whole,” said the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday: Sweden will also become safer as a result.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Monday Russia would beef up its military capabilities in its western and northwestern regions in response to Finland’s expected NATO entry on Tuesday, state news agency RIA reported.
Türkiye had hesitated for a long time
Last week on Thursday, Turkey was also the last member to vote for the Nordic country to join the defense alliance. A large majority in the Turkish parliament voted in favor of admission – all that was missing in the end were formalities before Finland can join NATO tomorrow. 28 of the 30 NATO countries voted in favor a long time ago, Hungary on Monday a week ago.
After the parliamentary elections on Sunday, Finland is in a phase of political upheaval – the social democratic Prime Minister Sanna Marin has admitted defeat – but joining NATO is supported by a large majority of the Finnish population and is out of the question.
Sweden is still waiting for approval
Unlike Finland, however, Sweden is still missing the ratification of Hungary and Turkey. Turkey accuses Sweden of taking insufficient action against “terrorist organizations” and criticizes the fact that extradition requests are not answered. Hungary, on the other hand, recently criticized Swedish statements on the rule of law and corruption – for a long time the Swedes had actually not expected objections from Budapest.
It is still unclear when – and if – the two countries will give their blessing to Sweden. Sweden hopes that this could be the case by the next NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in July.
(APA/Archyde.com)