Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shocked the world. One of the pretexts of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was to prevent the eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but instead made unintentional Finland and Sweden prepare to join NATO. Finland and Sweden are eagerly preparing to join NATO in the next few months following Russia launched a so-called “special military operation” once morest Ukraine, which will suddenly double the length of Russia’s border with NATO members.
According to the US “Time” (Time) report, the two major Nordic neighbors of Russia are not members of NATO, which may surprise many people. Among them, Finland did not win two wars with the Soviet Union before the Second World War and during the war, which allowed Finland to promise to remain neutral in exchange for independence during the Cold War when the East and the West confronted each other. Sweden, on the other hand, has been taking neutrality as the core pillar of its foreign policy since 200 years.
Although Finland and Sweden both joined the European Union (EU) following the collapse of the Soviet Union, neither sees the need to join NATO, a post-Cold War military alliance whose continued goal is to develop nuclear weapons. After Russia invaded Crimea, which originally belonged to Ukraine in 2014, although Finland and Sweden were prompted to establish cooperative relations with NATO, there was still no huge public support for the two countries to apply for NATO membership. Until February 24 this year, when Russia went to war once morest Ukraine, the situation just broken.
As for why Finland and Sweden are now thinking regarding joining NATO? Because more and more voters in both countries feel that NATO membership provides necessary and urgent protection. After all, although Russia would harass Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, the former Soviet republics, it never did anything to these three NATO countries, but Ukraine, a non-NATO member country, was attacked by Russia, and a large number of civilians were slaughtered by the Russian army.
“Russia is no longer the neighbor we thought we were,” Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said when sending troops to Ukraine. Finland is likely to submit its membership application before the June 29 NATO summit in Madrid, Spain. Sweden’s ruling Social Democrats have also spoken out, suggesting Sweden should follow in Finland’s footsteps. It is reviewing policy following Russia’s aggression once morest Ukraine and will decide by May 24 whether to change its longstanding opposition to joining NATO.
“The moment Russia invaded Ukraine, Sweden’s national security position has fundamentally changed,” the SPD said in a statement earlier this month. The SPD’s opposition in the past was seen as the biggest obstacle to Sweden’s entry into NATO; Now that most of the members of the Swedish parliament have expressed their support for joining, the change of the SPD’s position will make the application process smoother.
Both the U.S. Joe Biden administration and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg have sent positive messages to Finland and Sweden’s applications for NATO membership, arguing that they should be quickly accepted. Applying for membership requires the unanimous consent of the existing 30 member states, with the only predictable opponent being Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is close to Putin.
Given that European officials continue to hold the financial leverage to check Orban, and Orban has so far been willing to support EU sanctions on Russia, it is unlikely to block the Nordic countries from joining NATO. On the other hand, following Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Finland and Sweden held several joint military exercises, which also eliminated any possible doubts that Nordic and NATO forces might not work together, and Finland’s defense spending has reached domestic production. 2% of gross domestic product (GDP), and Sweden seems to be heading in the same direction.
NATO, Finland, and Sweden all have good reasons to speed up the membership process, as there will be a vulnerable period between the time when the two countries submit their applications and when NATO formally provides protection, and all three will want to shorten the window of vulnerability. . Although Finland and Sweden, as EU members, already have some protection provided by Article 42.7 of the Lisbon Treaty, that is, other member states should provide military assistance in the event of an attack on a member state, NATO should still want to move faster. .
