Finland Joining NATO Is Historic: Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to support Finland’s bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after months of hesitation. Since joining the 31-member state coalition depends on the approval of each participant, Turkey’s acceptance of Finland has allowed the country to actually gain entrance in the intergovernmental body that Putin hates. Sweden’s bid for Turkey’s approval is still up in the air. Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, both Sweden and Finland embraced military neutrality regarding world conflicts. However, Moscow’s offensive war forced Finland to re-consider the country’s potential membership to NATO.
An overview of NATO and Finland’s interest in joining
Russian President Vladimir Putin used Ukraine’s preliminary steps to joining NATO as the principal grounds for launching Russia’s invasion last February. Established after World War II, the international military alliance consists of 29 European and two North American countries. Essentially, member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. For this reason, if Ukraine was a part of NATO last year, Moscow would have been far less likely to carry out its invasion considering it would have been tantamount to declaring war on 31 other countries as well.
To gain membership into NATO, all applicants must meet political, economic and military requirements. Additionally, bid-seeking countries must demonstrate they can uphold the principles that have guided the intergovernmental body since its 1949 founding. Finland has had a tumultuous relationship with its Russian neighbor for centuries. The Nordic country was taken over by Russia in the 1800s and did not regain its sovereignty until after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Today, Finland shares the longest border with Russia out of every country in the European Union. The country’s inclusion into NATO would more than double the international body’s border with Russia, an important strategic feat for the organization.
Putin’s hardcore stance on NATO’s post-Cold War expansion into the former Soviet bloc has appeared to dwindle in recent weeks, at least in regard to Finland and Sweden. In fact, the Russian president said that both the Nordic country’s bids to join NATO posed “no direct threat to Moscow.”
However, Putin also warned that he would not permit any permanent bases for NATO forces or its equipment in either country. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said the country would bolster its defenses in response to Finland becoming a NATO member: “We will strengthen our military potential in the west and in the northwest,” Grushko said in remarks carried by the state RIA Novosti news agency. “In case of deployment of forces of other NATO members on the territory of Finland, we will take addition steps to ensure Russia’s military security.”
Finland In: Why is Ukraine not a NATO member?
In the past, NATO members have pointed to corruption as the primary reason holding Ukraine back from obtaining membership with the organization. Anti-corruption watchdog agency Transparency International ranked Ukraine 116thout of 180 countries on its 2022 corruption index.
In comparison, Turkey ranked 101th in the same report. Another obstacle precluding the White House from pushing for Ukraine’s bid into NATO is involving the U.S. military into the ongoing Russian-fueled conflicts.
Author Biography
Maya Carlin, a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.
