Finland will become the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and its flag will be raised at the headquarters of that bloc in Brussels, the head of the military alliance announced on Monday, Jens Stoltenberg.
(In context: Finland will join NATO: Turkish Parliament ratifies accession)
“Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will welcome Finland as the 31st member,” Stoltenberg told a news conference on the eve of a ministerial meeting marking the Nordic country’s accession to the transatlantic alliance.
Finland’s accession processstressed the Norwegian official, has been “the fastest in modern NATO history.”
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin (left) and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö hold a press conference to announce that Finland will apply for NATO membership.
Finland’s accession process, stressed the Norwegian official, has been “the fastest in the modern history of NATO
The move to be completed on Tuesday “will make Finland safer and NATO stronger.”
On Tuesday, it is expected that the representative of Finland formally delivers accession papers to US Secretary of StateAntony Blinken, whose office is guardian of the founding treaty of the military alliance.
Last year, in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO formally invited Finland and Sweden to join the military alliancebut the Swedish candidacy is subject to a veto by Turkey, although the position is discussed in intense negotiations.
This Monday, the enormous platform where the flags of the 30 member countries of the alliance are raised already exhibited the mast that Finland should receive at the ceremony on Tuesday.
In his press conference, Stoltenberg assured that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine “with the clear objective of having less Otan. But you will receive the exact opposite in return.”
Why is Russia bothered by Finland’s entry into NATO?
Moscow has repeatedly opposed the expansion of the Atlantic Alliance close to its borders. The news promises to further raise the tension in Europe from the east next to the war in Ukraine.
By the way, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Riabkov has said in the past that this enlargement is a “particularly destabilizing” factor.
“Our position is known, it does not change, we consider the expansion of the Atlantic Alliance as a particularly destabilizing factor at the international level” and Moscow has a “negative” attitude towards the entry of Sweden and Finland into the organization, he told Russian media. , according to the official agency Tass, in the middle of last year.
In that sense, Riabkov also said that the current meeting in Madrid shows the aggressiveness towards Russia. “The Madrid summit consolidates the course of an aggressive path toward Russia by the bloc,” the official told Russian news agencies.
The westerners decided to strengthen their military means since Russia attacked its neighbor, Ukraine, a candidate country to join NATO and the European Union, in February.
![](https://www.eltiempo.com/images/1x1.png)
View of the shelling in Ukraine
Why does Finland want to join NATO?
Both Finland and Sweden applied to join after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, and after staying for the entirety of the Cold War on the fringes of the US-led Alliance.
One of the clauses of the Alliance provides for the protection of its allies in case of aggression from an external nation. In this sense, Helsinki and Stockholm seek to bring their positions closer to the Western allies in the face of the threat that the war will spread to other nations of the Old Continent.
Background
At the beginning of March, the Finnish parliament approved this Wednesday in advance and with an overwhelming majority the entry into NATO, for which the ratification of Hungary and Turkey is essential.
The Finnish deputies approved by 184 votes in favor and seven against a law that allows the entry of Finland into the Western military alliance.
NATO membership had almost unanimous support from Finnish parties, including those that were against the alliance before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Only a handful of deputies from the extreme left and extreme right voted against, citing, among other issues, the lack of guarantees that nuclear weapons would not be installed in the territory.
CARLOS JOSE REYES
INTERNATIONAL SUB-EDITOR
TIME
*With AFP
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