BRUSSELS (AP) – Finland joined NATO’s military alliance on Tuesday, inflicting a heavy blow on Russian President Vladimir Putin in a historic re-enactment of the post-Cold War European security situation sparked by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. organized.
Joining the Nordic countries doubles Russia’s borders into the world’s largest security alliance. Finland had adopted neutrality after being defeated by the Soviet Union in World War II, but its leaders joined NATO just months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shook neighboring countries with tremors of terror. He indicated his intention to
“The era of non-alignment in our history is over. Security a short distance outside his fence, dozens of people were clad in their own flags, chanting “Ukraine needs her NATO.”
U.S. President Joe Biden praised Finland’s accession on April 4, 1949, noting that it was his 74th anniversary since the Treaty founding NATO was signed.
The move is a strategic and political setback for Putin, who has long complained about NATO’s expansion toward Russia and partly used that as a justification for the invasion.
“I’m tempted to say this is maybe the one thing that we can thank Mr. Putin for because he once again here precipitated something he claims to want to prevent by Russia’s aggression, causing many countries to believe that they have to do more to look out for their own defense and to make sure that they can deter possible Russian aggression going forward,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said before accepting the documents that made Finland’s membership official.
The U.S. State Department is the repository of NATO texts concerning membership.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent his congratulations to Finland, writing on Telegram that “amid Russian aggression, the Alliance became the only effective guarantee of security in the region.”
Russia warned it would be forced to take “retaliatory measures” to address what it called security threats created by Finland’s membership. It had also warned it would bolster forces near Finland if NATO sends any additional troops or equipment to what is its 31st member country. It is not clear what additional military resources Russia may send to the Finnish border. Moscow has deployed most of its most capable military units to Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he would not send any more troops to Finland unless Finland asked for help.
The country is now protected by what Stoltenberg called NATO’s “iron security guarantee”, with all member states pledging to protect their allies under attack.
However, Stoltenberg said NATO would not allow Russia’s demands to dictate the organization’s decisions, and refused to rule out the possibility of further military exercises there. “We are constantly checking our posture and our presence, we have more practice, we have more presence, including in the Nordic region,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Finnish parliament said its website was hit by a so-called denial of service attack, which made it difficult to use as many pages did not load and some functions were unavailable.
A pro-Russian hacking group called NoName057, 16, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was retaliation for Finland’s accession to NATO. The claims were not immediately confirmed. Hacking groups acting on orders from Moscow have reportedly been involved in numerous cyberattacks against the United States and its allies in the past. Finnish public broadcaster YLE said the same group visited parliament’s website last year.
