Nato’s border with Russia doubles as Finland joinson April 4, 2023 at 10:54 am

The Finnish flag is due to be raised at Nato headquarters in Brussels, as Russia’s western neighbour becomes the 31st member of the Western alliance.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and the US Secretary of State will join Nato ministers for a joining ceremony.

Finland’s accession is a setback for Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who repeatedly complained of Nato’s expansion before his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The length of Russia’s border with Nato member states has now doubled.

Finland shares a 1,340-km (832-mile) eastern frontier with Russia and formally applied to join Nato with Sweden last May because of Russia’s war.

They had previously both adopted a policy of non-alignment. But after the Ukraine invasion, they chose the protection of Nato’s Article Five, which says an attack on one member is an attack on all.

In effect, it means if Finland were invaded or attacked, all Nato members – including the US – would come to its aid.

Russia’s invasion prompted a surge in Finnish public opinion towards joining Nato to 80% in favour.

“This will make Finland safer and Nato stronger,” Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Tuesday.

“President Putin had a declared goal of the invasion of Nato to get less Nato along its borders and no more membership in Europe, he’s getting exactly the opposite.”

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that Russia would be “watching closely” what happens in Finland, describing Nato’s enlargement as a “violation of our security and our national interests”.

Sweden’s application has for now become stuck, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing Stockholm of embracing Kurdish militants and allowing them to demonstrate on the streets. Hungary is also yet to approve Sweden joining.

Mr Stoltenberg said Nato would ensure Sweden would become the next member to join.

Helsinki’s journey to accession has lasted less than a year, and Tuesday’s ceremony coincides with the 74th anniversary of Nato’s founding in 1949.

It will formally join when Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto hands over accession papers to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Finland’s a terrific ally, very capable, shares our values and we expect a seamless transition into its proper seat at the table,” US ambassador to Nato Julianne Smith told the BBC.

She said she hoped Sweden would also join at the next Nato summit in Lithuania in July.

The Kremlin said that Russia was being forced to take counter-measures to ensure its own security, tactically and strategically, but pointed out it had never had disagreements with Helsinki in the way that Ukraine had become “anti-Russian”.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that Russia’s short-range Iskander-M ballistic missile system had been handed over to Belarus and was capable of carrying nuclear as well as conventional weapons. Some Belarusian fighter jets were also capable of carrying nuclear weapons, he said.

Jens Stoltenberg said Nato had not yet seen any changes to Russia’s nuclear posture that would require any change by the alliance. He added there would be no Nato troops stationed in Finland without the consent of the government in Helsinki.

Nato will now have seven members on the Baltic Sea, further isolating Russia’s coastal access to St Petersburg and its small exclave of Kaliningrad.

Dmitry Peskov told the BBC that Russia would be watching closely how Nato used Finnish territory “in terms of basing weapons systems and infrastructure there which will be right up close to our borders, potentially threatening us”.

“Based on that, measures will be taken,” the Kremlin spokesman said.