Sweden and Finland have agreed to submit simultaneous applications for membership of the US-led NATO alliance as early as the middle of next month, Nordic media reported.
Finnish daily Iltalehti said on Monday that Stockholm “proposed that the two countries announce their readiness to join on the same day” and that Helsinki agreed “as long as the Swedish government has made its decision”.
Swedish newspaper Expressen cited government sources to corroborate the report. The prime ministers of the two countries said this month they would discuss the issue, arguing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed Europe’s “entire security landscape” and “dramatic mindsets” in the Nordic region.
Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin said at the time that her country, which shares a 1,300km border with Russia, would decide “quite quickly, in weeks not months” whether to apply to join the alliance, despite the risk, furious to become Moscow.
Her Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson said Sweden had to “be prepared for any possible action by Russia” and that “everything changed” when Moscow attacked Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly warned both countries about this.
The Kremlin said it would be forced to “restore military balance” by strengthening its defenses in the Baltic Sea, including through the use of nuclear weapons, if the two countries decided to abandon decades-long military non-alignment by joining NATO.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde said last week a wide-ranging security review would be completed by May 13 instead of May 31 as originally planned, adding that given Finland’s already published analysis “there is a lot of pressure now”.
Expressen said the simultaneous applications could be submitted in the week of May 16, coinciding with a state visit to Stockholm by Finnish President Sauli Niinistö. The Guardian could not independently confirm the reports.
Recent opinion polls have shown that 68% of Finns are in favor of joining the alliance, more than double the pre-invasion figure, and just 12% against. Polls in Sweden indicate that a slim majority of Swedes are also in favor of membership.
Both countries are officially non-aligned militarily, but became NATO partners – taking part in exercises and sharing intelligence – after abandoning their previous stance of strict neutrality when they joined the EU in 1995 after the end of the Cold War.