Finland joins NATO in major blow to Russia, Joly calls it ‘important day’

Finland joined the NATO military alliance on Tuesday in what is seen as a major blow to Russia, its neighbour that started an unprovoked war with bordering nation Ukraine last year.

That Feb. 24, 2022, invasion is what prompted Finland and Sweden to submit formal requests to join the alliance – whose founding treaty contains a clause that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.

“We believe that this is a very important day, a day that we should all celebrate, because as a country, Finland is a plus to the alliance,” Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly told reporters in Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday.

“We believe with Finland and soon to be Sweden’s accession, we will have a very strong alliance and we will be able to deal with the biggest challenges that NATO has faced in many years.”

The Nordic country’s membership, now the 31st nation to be a NATO member, doubles the length of Russia’s borders with members of the world’s biggest security alliance and represents a major change in Europe’s security landscape.

Finland adopted neutrality after its conflict with the Soviets in the Second World War, but its leaders signaled they wanted to join NATO just months after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine scared Moscow’s neighbors.

The move is seen as a strategic and political blow to Putin, who has long complained about NATO’s expansion toward Russia and partly used that as a justification for his invasion of Ukraine.

0:34 Finland’s membership in NATO ‘not targeted against anyone’ says Niinistö

Russia warned that 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 the nation. The alliance says it poses no threat to Moscow.

“For Canada, why it is it important? It is also an Arctic nation, and we want to make sure that Arctic nations are addressing some of the security challenges that we’re facing,” Joly said.

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“We need to make sure that Finland and Sweden are at the table within NATO.”

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Neighboring Sweden, which has avoided military alliances for more than 200 years, has also applied, but objections from NATO members Turkey and Hungary have delayed the process.

Turkey has said Stockholm harbours members of what Ankara considers terrorist groups — an accusation Sweden denies — and has demanded their extradition as a step toward ratifying Swedish membership.

2:53 Finland’s flag raised outside NATO headquarters as it becomes 31st member of alliance

Hungary cites grievances over criticism of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s record on democracy and rule of law. NATO diplomats have said they expect Budapest to approve Sweden’s bid if it sees Turkey moving to do so.

Joly called on the leaders to ratify Sweden’s application “without delay.” Each NATO nation must be in agreement before a new nation can officially join.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the same call in a statement, saying Sweden’s membership “will further strengthen the Alliance and the security of all our people.”

Just before accepting the documents that made Finland’s membership official on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this is something NATO can “thank Mr. Putin for, because once again here precipitated something he claims to want to prevent by Russia’s aggression.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused “many countries to believe that they have to do more to look out for their own defence and to make sure that they can deter possible Russian aggression going forward,” he said. The U.S. State Department is the repository of NATO texts concerning membership.

3:08 Stoltenberg, Finnish president say Sweden’s accession to NATO is ‘top priority’

Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the country “will be forced to take military-technical and other retaliatory measures to counter the threats to our national security arising from Finland’s accession to NATO.”

It said Finland’s move marks “a fundamental change in the situation in Northern Europe, which had previously been one of the most stable regions in the world.”

It’s not clear what additional military resources Russia could send to the Finnish border. Moscow has deployed the bulk of its most capable military units to Ukraine.

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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg earlier said that no more troops would be sent to Finland unless it asked for help.

“There will be no NATO troops in Finland without the consent of Finland,” Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg also refused to rule out the possibility of holding more military exercises there and said that NATO would not allow Russia’s demands to dictate the organization’s decisions.

“We are constantly assessing our posture, our presence. We have more exercises, we have more presence, also in the Nordic area,” he said.

— with files from The Associated Press and Reuters