Finland will apply for NATO membership, president says

Finland will apply for membership in NATO, the nation’s president mentioned Sunday, in a historic transfer for the Nordic nation, which has had a decades-long coverage of navy neutrality.

In a press convention alongside Prime Minister Sanna Marin, President Sauli Niinisto mentioned: “As we speak, we, the president and the federal government’s overseas coverage committee, have collectively determined that Finland … will apply for NATO membership.”

He added that being a member of the navy alliance will “maximize” Finland’s safety after Russia’s unprecedented invasion of Ukraine in February.

Marin described that transfer to use as an “essential resolution” primarily based on a “sturdy mandate.”

“We hope that the parliament will affirm the choice to use for NATO membership throughout the coming days,” she added. The formal software is anticipated to be submitted subsequent week.

Marin mentioned Finland has been in shut contact with NATO and its members over the choice. Final week, Marin and Niinisto mentioned the nation ought to apply to affix NATO “at once.”

Finland shares an 830-mile border with Russia; if it joins the navy alliance, the land border that Russia shares with NATO territories would roughly double.

As such, there’s a threat the transfer from Helsinki may spark aggression from Russia, the place President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly expressed his opposition to NATO’s enlargement.

Finland’s Niinisto mentioned he spoke to Putin on Saturday and knowledgeable him of his nation’s resolution.

Final week, Russia’s overseas ministry mentioned Finland becoming a member of NATO can be a “radical change” within the nation’s overseas coverage. “Russia shall be pressured to take retaliatory steps, each of a military-technical and different nature, with a view to cease threats to its nationwide safety arising,” it mentioned in an announcement.

Russia has land borders with 14 international locations and 5 of them are NATO members: Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and Norway.

Finland has been reviewing its safety coverage following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which confirmed the Kremlin is prepared to assault a neighboring nation. Finland has been invaded prior to now — in 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland in what grew to become referred to as the Winter Conflict.

One potential stumbling block to Finland becoming a member of the alliance is Turkey, the NATO member with the second-largest navy after the U.S.

Ascension for a brand new member state requires consensus approval from all present members.

The nation’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned Thursday: “We do not maintain optimistic views” on Finland and Sweden’s potential membership. Sweden is anticipated to observe Finland and in addition apply to affix NATO within the close to future.

Earlier Sunday, NATO’s deputy secretary basic struck a assured tone on Finland and Sweden probably becoming a member of the group.

Talking to reporters in Berlin, Mircea Geoana mentioned the 2 international locations had been already the closest companions of NATO.

“I’m assured that if these two international locations will resolve, within the subsequent few days I perceive, to hunt membership in NATO, that [we] will be capable to welcome them and to search out all circumstances for consensus to be met,” he mentioned.

On Turkey, Geoana added: “They expressed considerations which are addressed and mentioned in between pals and allies.”

NATO — or the North Atlantic Treaty Group — was based in 1949 by the U.S., Canada, and several other Western European nations to supply collective safety towards fashionable Russia’s forebearer, the Soviet Union.

Ever since its basis, the alliance has had a thorny relationship with the Soviet Union all through the Chilly Conflict and, following its collapse in 1991, the Russian Federation.

— CNBC’s Natasha Turak contributed to this report