On NATO’s 74th anniversary, Finland officially became its 31st member.
After the official handover of Finland’s NATO accession document to the US Secretary of State, the Finnish flag was raised in front of the Alliance’s headquarters along with 30 other Allied flags. “This is a historic day”, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
“The era of military non-alignment in our history has come to an end. A new era begins”, acknowledged Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, adding that membership of the Alliance was a guarantee of security for his country. “Finland, committed to the security of all NATO member states, will be a reliable ally, strengthening regional stability”, he promised.
Helsinki was already a partner of the Alliance. “Finland brings substantial and highly capable forces, expertise in national resilience and years of experience working alongside NATO Allies”, says Mr Stoltenberg. As an ally, “Finland will have to be ready to change and adapt” Mr Niinistö said, adding that much remained to be done to integrate Finnish defence into NATO’s common defence.
Finland and Sweden applied for membership of the Alliance on 18 May 2022 (see EUROPE 12955/3) and were invited to join the Alliance at the Madrid Summit on 29 June 2022 (see EUROPE 12982/1). “This has been the fastest accession process in NATO’s modern history”, Soltenberg said.
While Sweden is still awaiting ratification of its membership by the Hungarian and Turkish parliaments, the Finnish Ally’s first act was to sign and deliver the letter of acceptance of Sweden into the Alliance. “Finland’s membership is not complete without that of Sweden. The persistent efforts for a rapid Swedish membership continue”, stressed Mr Niinistö, hoping that his Nordic neighbour will join at the Vilnius summit in July.
Russian retaliation
Although the Finnish president reiterated that his country’s accession was not aimed at anyone and did not change its foreign and security policy foundations or objectives, Russia promised on Tuesday to take “countermeasures”. Finland has over 1,300 km of land border with Russia.
“This is a further aggravation of the situation. NATO enlargement is an attack on our security and the national interests” [of Russia], said the spokesman of the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov. The countermeasures will depend on “the concrete conditions of [Finland’s] integration into the Atlantic Alliance, including the deployment on its territory of NATO military infrastructure and strike-capable weapons systems”, Russian diplomats said in a statement. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)