Finland has officially joined NATO as its 31st member | Johanna Geron/AFP via Getty Images
The Nordic country is the 31st member of the defense alliance. Finland’s accession falls on the 74th anniversary of the signing of NATO’s founding Washington Treaty on 4 April 1949.
The country applied to join NATO last May in a foreign policy U-turn prompted by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Finland’s entry brings to the alliance a new 1,340-kilometer border with Russia — as well as its own significant military capabilities.
Finland and Sweden initially planned to join the alliance together. But Turkey and Hungary dragged out the ratification process for the two countries, ultimately signing off on Finland’s bid last week but leaving Sweden hanging in the wind.
Belarus, saying on Tuesday that NATO had “not seen any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture that require any changes in our posture – but we will remain vigilant”.
Joining NATO means Finland falls under the alliance’s article 5, a collective defence pledge that stipulates that an attack on one NATO member “shall be considered an attack against them all”.
People are eying current NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s pending exit at the end of September | Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
The country also brings a potent military force into the alliance, with a wartime strength of 280,000 and one of Europe’s largest artillery arsenals. Finland is one of few European countries to have maintained a conscription army – and its forces are trained and equipped with the primary aim of repelling an eventual Russian invasion.
Finland’s accession falls on the 74th anniversary of the signing of NATO’s founding Washington Treaty on 4 April 1949.
~ The POLITICO
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