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Finland joins NATO and deals a heavy blow to Russia in the war against Ukraine

2023-04-04T16:07:27.187Z


The move is a strategic and political blow to Putin, who has long complained about NATO's expansion into Russia and partly used it as a justification for the invasion.


By Lorne Cook and Matthew Lee —

The Associated Press

Finland officially became a member of the NATO military alliance on Tuesday, dealing a heavy blow to Russia with a historic realignment of the continent sparked by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Finland's accession to the world's largest security alliance represents a landmark change in Europe's security landscape.

The country, which shares an 832-mile (1,340-kilometer) border with Russia, adopted neutrality after its defeat by the Soviets in World War II.

But its leaders have said they wanted to join the alliance just months after Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

The move is a

strategic and political blow to Putin,

who has long complained about NATO's expansion into Russia and partly used it as a justification for the invasion.

The Alliance claims that it does not pose any threat to Moscow.

The NATO and Finnish flags fly over the Interior Ministry building in Helsinki, Finland, Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Sergei Grits / AP

Russia warned that it would be forced to take "retaliatory measures" to deal with what it called security threats created by Finland's accession.

It also stated that it will reinforce its forces near Finland if NATO sends additional troops or equipment to what will be its 31st member country.

Neighboring Sweden, which has avoided military alliances for more than 200 years, also applied.

But objections from NATO members Turkey and Hungary have delayed the process.

Alarmed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, Finland applied for membership in May, putting aside years of military nonalignment to seek protection under the organization's security umbrella.

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Finland's accession became official when its Foreign Minister handed over to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken the documents completing the accession process.

The US Department of State is the depository of texts relating to NATO membership.

“I am tempted to say that this is perhaps the only thing we can thank Mr. Putin for, because once again he has precipitated here something that he says he wants to prevent with Russia's aggression, making many countries believe that they have to do more to ensure their self-defense and make sure they can deter possible Russian aggression in the future,” Blinken declared just before accepting the documents making Finland's accession official.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto shakes hands with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken after Finland's addition to NATO on Tuesday in Brussels.Johanna Geron / AP

The United States Department of State is the depository of texts relating to NATO membership.

The head of the military alliance declared on Tuesday that no more troops will be sent to the Nordic country unless it asks for help.

"There will be no NATO troops in Finland without Finland's consent

," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, just hours before the country's accession.

But he refused to rule out the possibility of further military exercises there.

and said NATO would not allow Russia's demands to dictate the organization's decisions.

“We are constantly evaluating our posture, our presence.

We have more exercises, more presence, also in the Nordic zone”, she stated.

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The

Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the country "will be forced to take retaliatory military-technical

and other measures to counter threats to our national security arising from Finland's accession to NATO," the Foreign Ministry warned. Foreign in a statement.

The ministry added that Finland's passage marks "a fundamental change in the situation in northern Europe, which until now had been one of the most stable regions in the world."

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Finland's accession reflects the alliance's anti-Russian course and warned that

Moscow will respond based on the weapons NATO allies place there.

But Peskov also tried to downplay the impact, noting that Russia has no territorial disputes with Finland.

It is not clear what additional military resources Russia could send to the Finnish border.

Moscow has deployed the bulk of its most capable military units in Ukraine.

"Safer and Stronger"

Meanwhile, the Finnish Parliament reported that its website had suffered a denial of service attack that made it difficult to use, preventing many pages from loading and some functions from being available.

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A pro-Russian hacker group known as NoName057 (16) claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming it was in retaliation for Finland's entry into NATO.

AP could not immediately verify this claim.

The hacking group, which appears to have been acting on orders from Moscow, has been involved in a series of cyberattacks against the United States and its allies in the past.

Finnish public broadcaster YLE claimed that the same group attacked Parliament's website last year.

Stoltenberg said that once Finland joins, it will benefit from NATO's “iron security guarantee”, under which all member countries agree to come to the defense of any ally under attack.

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"By becoming (Finland) a full member, we remove the margin of miscalculation in Moscow about NATO's readiness to protect Finland, and that makes Finland safer and stronger, and all of us safer," Stoltenberg stated.

Finland's entry, which will be celebrated with a flag-raising ceremony at NATO headquarters, coincides with the organization's own birthday, the 74th anniversary of the signing of its founding Treaty in Washington on April 4, 1949. It also coincides with a meeting of the Alliance Foreign Ministers.

The President and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense of Finland will participate in the ceremony.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2023-04-04

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