Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine has brought NATO closer together. Recently, two neutral countries, Finland and Sweden, are actively considering joining NATO. NATO’s top leaders have repeatedly said that if the two countries submit applications, they will be able to “accelerately join the alliance”. This move will change the security situation in Europe and will become a “self-fulfilling prophecy” of Russian President Vladimir Putin, because “preventing NATO’s eastward expansion” was one of his pretexts for launching the Russia-Ukraine war.
Russia has threatened Finland and Sweden in the past with “serious military and political consequences” if they join NATO. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on the 2nd that “Finland must reconsider joining NATO, given that Russia is no longer ‘not what we think it is’, and a decision must be made this spring.” The invasion of Ukraine and threats to Finland have produced “irreversible changes” in relations between the two countries.
Finnish President Sauli. Sauli Niinisto said the majority of the Finnish people support joining NATO, so there is no need for a referendum or poll. According to the latest poll released by Finland on March 30, nearly 62% of the Finnish people support joining NATO, an increase from 53% in the previous time, and has remained at about 20% to 25% in the past few decades. between.
Sweden is also thinking about the same problem, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena. Magdalena Andersson has previously said that “Sweden applying to join NATO would pose a risk of ‘destabilization’ and ‘increase tension’ in the European security situation,” but she said in a March 30 interview: ” I do not rule out joining NATO in any way.”
The Social Democratic Party led by Andersson has always pursued a policy of military non-alignment and opposed Sweden’s entry into NATO. However, she also said that Sweden is currently evaluating its national security policy. She would “of course” change the position of the Social Democrats.
Sweden’s parliamentary elections will be held in September, and Sweden’s main opposition party, the Moderate Party, has said it will apply to join NATO if elected and with a majority in parliament. Swedish polls also show that since the Russian-Ukrainian war, the proportion of Swedish people who support joining NATO has risen to about half, and the proportion of people who oppose it has dropped to 25% to 30%.
Swedish defense analyst and director of Nordic affairs at the Atlantic Council of the United States, Anna. Anna Wieslander (Anna Wieslander) pointed out that the Russian-Ukrainian war has made people in Sweden and Finland begin to doubt their own country’s defense capabilities. “Russia as a member of the UN Security Council, a nuclear-armed state, doing that to a sovereign state with a history of 30 years really makes one have to do something and think that Ukraine is not a member of NATO, nor is Sweden and Finland. Can we really protect ourselves?” doubt. These things combine to make people think joining NATO is a good idea.”
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the defense positions of Sweden and Finland have changed significantly. The two countries have successively announced the delivery of anti-tank weapons, assault rifles and other equipment to Ukraine, and participated in NATO’s “Cold Response” military exercise. Some analysts believe that the participation of the two military non-aligned countries in the military exercise in northern Norway during the Russian-Ukrainian war highlights their tendency to deepen cooperation with NATO.
NATO Secretary General Jens. Jens Stoltenberg, when asked what he thought of the two countries joining NATO, said he expected that if Finland and Sweden wanted to join NATO, they would be welcomed by the 30 member states and that NATO would find a way to resolve the two countries. security concerns during the transition from application to final approval. “We’re going to get them into the league relatively quickly,” he said in an April 3 interview.
Former NATO Secretary-General Anders. Fogg. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who has also previously called for Finland and Sweden to join NATO, sees Russia as a “window of opportunity” now that Russia is caught in a war.
However, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said earlier when talking about Sweden’s accession to NATO: “Although every country has the right to establish its own security system, we must make people understand that if the NATO military infrastructure is built far away from Russia The border is too close, and we will take necessary military-technical measures.” It can be seen that Finland and Sweden have considered the risk of joining NATO.