- Joined
- Apr 18, 2013
- Messages
- 94,109
- Reaction score
- 82,391
- Location
- Barsoom
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Independent
Finland Races Toward Likely NATO Membership as Putin's Warnings Backfire
As with Ukraine and Georgia, Russia wants the power to dictate to sovereign nations what they can and can't do.
Moscow warns Finland and Sweden that they can become the next Ukraine if they request NATO membership.
4.4.22
Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Saturday that the country will make a decision on applying for NATO membership by the end of spring, because "Russia is not the neighbor we thought it was." Finland's relations with Russia have changed in an "irreversible" way, said Marin, reversing course on earlier remarks that it would be "very unlikely" that Finland would apply for membership with the military alliance during her current term of office. Russian officials have warned of potential retaliation, in the form of military and political consequences, should Finland and Sweden join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Sergei Belyaev, director of the Second European Department of Russia's Foreign Ministry, told Russia's state-run news agency Interfax that Finland and Sweden not joining NATO is "an important factor in ensuring security and stability in northern Europe."
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on February 25—a day after the start of the invasion of Ukraine—said that Moscow would have to respond if Sweden and Finland intended to join NATO. "Clearly [the] accession of Finland and Sweden into NATO, which is first and foremost a military alliance, would have serious military-political repercussions that would demand a response from our country," she said. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said NATO's expansion east poses a security threat to Russia. He cited the alliance's expansion as part of his justification for launching his "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24. Moscow's attack in neighboring Ukraine has left Finland with no choice but to reexamine its security policy, Marin said. The Finnish prime minister said a decision to seek NATO membership would be made "thoroughly but quickly," by this spring, according to Finnish broadcasting company Yleisradio Oy. Finland is likely to face consequences either way, she said.
As with Ukraine and Georgia, Russia wants the power to dictate to sovereign nations what they can and can't do.
Moscow warns Finland and Sweden that they can become the next Ukraine if they request NATO membership.