Finland has officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, becoming the 31st country to do so and effectively doubling the NATO border with Russia in the process.
“I’m tempted to say this is maybe the one thing that we can thank Mr. Putin for because he, once again here, precipitated something he claims to want to prevent by Russia’s aggression,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday before accepting the documentation which grants the northern European country membership in the strategic alliance.
In joining NATO, Finland gains the protections provided by the treaty’s Article 5, which states that an attack on any member country will be treated as an attack on all alliance members.
Russia’s unlawful invasion of neighboring Ukraine, which began in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea but exploded into full scale war in February of 2022, is causing countries to consider their own borders and fueling the push to join the treaty organization, Blinken said.
“Russia’s further invasion into Ukraine last year precipitated the very thing President Putin wanted to avoid: a stronger, more unified, Transatlantic Alliance,” he said. “NATO has helped maintain peace and stability in Europe for over 70 years. It has also played a critical role in promoting stability and the international rules-based order around the world. Finland’s membership in the Alliance will advance these shared goals.”
Russia’s foreign ministry responded to the announcement by suggesting it would expand the presence of its military along the border with Finland — now along the border with NATO — and that they “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.”
They said expansion of NATO represents, “a fundamental change in the situation in Northern Europe, which had previously been one of the most stable regions in the world.”
Finland’s membership comes on the 74th anniversary of the founding of the treaty organization, which was formed in the wake of WWII to serve as a counter to the growing influence of the Soviet Union.
“Seventy-four years ago today — as the United States and 11 other nations came together to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — President Truman said, ‘if there is anything inevitable in the future, it is the will of the people of the world for freedom and for peace.’ Today, that will is stronger than ever with the addition of Finland to NATO,” President Joe Biden said in a statement shared by the White House.
Since the collapse of the Soviet system and his rise to power, Putin has publicly called the treaty organization’s continued growth toward Russian borders a threat to his nation’s national security. Biden, in his statement, pointed to Russian aggression against its neighbors as the cause of NATO’s growth.
“When Putin launched his brutal war of aggression against the people of Ukraine, he thought he could divide Europe and NATO. He was wrong. Today, we are more united than ever. And together—strengthened by our newest Ally Finland—we will continue to preserve transatlantic security, defend every inch of NATO territory, and meet any and all challenges we face,” he said.
Finland and neighboring Sweden both applied to join NATO last summer. Sweden’s application has met resistance from both Turkey and Hungary.
Herald wire service contributed.