Finland Joins NATO as its 31st Member

Finland Joins Nato: Finland joins NATO as its 31st member, substantially increasing the length of member states’ borders with Russia. The US Secretary of State officially recognised Finland as a member after receiving the accession document from the Finnish Foreign Minister. Finland’s white and blue flag joined a circle of 30 other flags at the ceremony in front of NATO’s new headquarters to signify the country’s membership. Vladimir Putin of Russia, who had complained frequently about NATO’s expansion before his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has been seen as having suffered a setback.

In response, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that by striking Ukraine, the Russian president had accomplished exactly what he had hoped to avoid. The Kremlin has issued a warning that it will be “monitoring attentively” what transpires in Finland and has labelled NATO’s expansion as a “violation of our security and our national interests” through its spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked a rise in support for NATO membership in Finland, with 80% of the population now in favour of joining.

Finland and Russia have an eastern border that measures 1,340 kilometres (832 miles), and Helsinki decided to seek protection under NATO’s Article Five, which declares that an attack on one member constitutes an attack on all.

Finnish President Said..

Sauli Niinisto, president of Finland, declared that it is a great day for Finland and that its membership wouldn’t pose a security concern to anyone. Furthermore, NATO will become more powerful and Finland will become safer with Finnish membership. Finland has a roughly 30,000-strong active military force that is well-trained and equipped, and it also has access to 250,000 reserves. That presents a difficulty for NATO to help maintain the safety of its lengthy border with Russia, but it is already taken into account in the alliance’s most recent defence plans.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, has accused Stockholm of welcoming Kurdish terrorists and allowing them to march on the streets, which has caused Sweden’s application to become stalled. Hungary still needs to ratify Sweden’s membership. The most crucial issue, according to Mr Stoltenberg, was for Sweden to join as soon as possible. The Finnish president expressed excitement about seeing his Nordic neighbour at the upcoming NATO summit in Lithuania in July.

The membership process for Helsinki took less than a year, and the event on Tuesday falls on the 74th anniversary of NATO’s inception in 1949. Finland is a fantastic ally, extremely capable, and shares our values, according to Julianne Smith, the US ambassador to NATO, and we anticipate a smooth transfer into its rightful position at the table. Although Helsinki and Moscow have never disagreed on the way that Ukraine has turned “anti-Russian,” the Kremlin has claimed that it is being obliged to take countermeasures to preserve its security, tactically and strategically.

What Next After Finland Jojns NATO?

Now that NATO will have seven members in the Baltic Sea, Russia’s coastal access to St. Petersburg and its tiny exclave of Kaliningrad will be much more cut off. Mr Peskov has additionally stated that Russia will be closely monitoring how NATO uses Finnish land “in terms of basing weapons systems and facilities there that will be right up near to our borders, potentially threatening us.” He continued, “Measures will be taken based on that.”