Finland and Sweden are poised to join NATO as early as this summer, a move a US official said was due to Russia’s “massive strategic error” in invading Ukraine, according to a report released Monday.
The two Nordic countries’ membership of the Atlantic Alliance was a “topic of conversation and several sessions” last week during meetings of NATO foreign ministers attended by representatives from Stockholm and Helsinki, the Times of London reported.
Finland is expected to submit an application in June, with Sweden following shortly thereafter, the report said.
The addition of Sweden and Finland would bring alliance membership to 32 countries – and expand their border with Russia by hundreds of kilometers.
“How can this be anything but a massive strategic blunder? [Russian President Vladimir] Putin?” a senior American official told the publication.
“As net contributors, Sweden and Finland would be real feathers in NATO’s cap. They are real players,” a European diplomat told the Times, noting that the addition of both countries would help expand the alliance’s capabilities, including in intelligence gathering and in the air force.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine created “a new reality, a new normal for European security”. EPO/STEPHANIE LECOCQ
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said it was time her country considered NATO membership and urged the alliance to consider any potential application “thoroughly but quickly”.
“Russia is not the neighbor we thought it was,” Marin said earlier this month, adding, “I think we’re going to have very careful talks, but we’re also not taking any more time than necessary in this process because The situation is of course very serious.”
Following the Helsinki schedule, Stockholm is conducting a security policy review, which is expected to be completed by the end of May.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Mirella Marin (right) said it was time her country considered NATO membership and urged the alliance to examine the application quickly but thoroughly.Thierry Monasse/Getty Images
“I am in no way ruling out NATO membership,” Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said at the end of March.
In response to the report, the Kremlin took action against Finland and Sweden on Monday.
“We have repeatedly said that the alliance remains a confrontational instrument and its further expansion will not bring stability to the European continent,” Moscow spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Swedish Prime Minister Eva Magdalena Andersson has said she does not expect membership in any way. Thierry Monasse/Getty Images
Finland, which shares an 830-mile border with Russia, was rocked by Ukraine’s invasion and recently beefed up its defensive stance along the border.
Breaking with its long tradition of neutrality between Russia and the West, Finland also said in late February it would supply Ukraine with military weapons.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, public opinion in Finland has swung in favor of joining NATO. Polls show that 62% of Finns want to be part of the alliance by mid-March, up from 53% in February.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin (right) and her Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson address the media in front of the Prime Minister’s official residence, Kesaeranta, in Helsinki, Finland, March 5, 2022.RONI REKOMAA/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said over the weekend that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine created “a new reality, a new normal for European security” and announced that the alliance plans to establish a permanent military force on member states’ borders station to prevent further Russian territorial ambitions.