NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg said Finland’s flag will be raised “in the next few days” and congratulated the country’s president for removing the last hurdle to membership, hoping Helsinki will be a formal member soon.
“I hope to raise the Finnish flag at the NATO headquarters in the next few days. Together we are stronger and safer,” Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter.
Regarding Sweden’s accession, Stoltenberg said he hoped the country could join NATO “as soon as possible.”
Sweden and Finland applied for membership on May 18, 2022, less than three months after Russia invaded Ukraine, ending their historic position of neutrality.
Russia shares a land border with Finland of more than 1,300 kilometers and a sea border with Sweden.
One of the Russian objectives to justify the invasion of Ukraine was to prevent the neighboring country from joining NATO and, consequently, the expansion of the Atlantic Alliance.
Before the invasion, Moscow demanded that NATO guarantee, in the form of a treaty, that Ukraine and Georgia would never become members of the alliance.
It also required NATO’s withdrawal to pre-1997 positions, prior to the organization’s expansion into Eastern Europe. NATO rejected both demands.
Faced with Moscow’s claim that the expansion is aimed at encircling Russia, NATO claims that only six percent of Russia’s land borders touch Alliance members.
Russia has land borders with 14 countries and only five of them are NATO members, according to the military defense organization.
Of NATO’s 30 members, only Turkey and Hungary have not yet completed the ratification process for the requests of the two Nordic countries, although progress has been made in the case of Finland.
Regarding Sweden, Turkey demands that it stop supporting Kurdish groups considered terrorist by Ankara.
Hungary recently admitted to delaying the process due to the Swedish rulers’ previous positions on the suspension of European funds for Budapest.
Portugal ratified the accession of the two countries in September 2022.
Source: TSF
