Sweden and Finland launch NATO membership application

“Our NATO application has now been officially signed,” announces Sweden’s Ann Linde. The membership entry will be submitted together with Finland.

Sweden and Finland join one Nato-Joining closer. Foreign Minister Ann Linde signed her country’s NATO membership application on Tuesday. “Our NATO application is now officially signed,” Linde wrote on Twitter. The Finnish parliament approved an application for NATO membership with an overwhelming majority. With the application, both Nordic countries are reacting to a changed security situation caused by the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

On Tuesday in Helsinki, 188 Finnish MPs voted in favor of joining the military alliance, only eight voted once morest. The Swedish application will now become NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as soon as Finland has also signed an application, Linde announced. Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö and the Finnish government have already decided to apply. The Swedish government made the final decision on the NATO membership application on Monday. “It feels big, it feels serious, it feels like we’ve ended up doing what we think is best for Sweden,” Linde said on Tuesday.

King Carl Gustaf: “Setting the historical course”

Sweden’s King Carl XVI. Gustaf stressed his country’s intention to join NATO “simultaneously and in agreement with Finland”. “This is a historic step that we are taking side by side with our brother country,” he said at a press conference with Niinistö in Stockholm on Tuesday. Niinistö had previously arrived in the Swedish capital for a two-day state visit.

The challenges posed by Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine meant “opportunities for consensus and deeper cooperation to stand together even more,” the monarch said. Niinistö added: “Our security policy line has been a similar one for a long time. And even now, when the situation requires it, we are taking our steps together.” The Finnish President is expected to sign his country’s membership application during the state visit to Stockholm.

Lavrov: “Not much difference”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov doesn’t see much of a difference if Sweden and Finland join NATO. The two countries, like other neutral states, have been taking part in NATO maneuvers for years, says Lavrov. “NATO takes its territory into account when planning military pushes east. So in that sense there probably isn’t much of a difference. Let’s see how their territory is used in practice in the North Atlantic Alliance,” Lavrov said. Sweden and Finland have spoken out in favor of joining the US-led military alliance in the face of the Russian attack on Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia expelled two Finnish diplomats. This was announced by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday. Russia is once morest Finland’s confrontation once morest the country, they say. Finland had previously expelled two Russian diplomats.

The Kremlin accused the West of waging war once morest Russia. “They are enemy states. Because what they are doing is war,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday when he appeared at an education conference near Moscow. President Vladimir Putin had previously spoken of an economic “lightning war” with a view to the Western sanctions. The Russian leadership calls its own war of aggression in Ukraine, which has now lasted almost three months, a “special military operation”.

Russia accuses West of “political war”.

Peskov said the West was waging a diplomatic, economic and political war once morest his country. “In fact, we are now witnessing a perfect storm and the moment of truth.” Russia must show that it is able to protect its interests. “But every war ends in peace. And that peace will be made to make our voice heard where we are comfortable, safe, and standing firmly on our feet.” In a figurative sense, the “perfect storm” refers to a maximum catastrophe in which all negative factors come together.

Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of having a “bazaar mentality” because of his attitude towards possible Finland and Sweden joining NATO. One knows how bazaars work in Turkey, Asselborn said on Tuesday in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. “And sometimes the mentality, especially Erdogan’s, is also shaped by it.” Erdogan had signaled that Turkey was critical of such an admission. He accused both countries of supporting “terrorist organizations” such as the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK. In his opinion, Turkey is not concerned with the Kurdish question at all, but with the delivery of F16 fighter jets.

Biden welcomes Andersson and Niinistö

US President Joe Biden announced that he would receive Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Niinistö at the White House in Washington on Thursday. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said they wanted to talk regarding the two countries’ NATO bids at the meeting in the US capital. Other topics are European security and the strengthening of close partnerships as well as support for Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has expressed optimism that Turkey will not block Sweden and Finland from joining NATO. Scholz said on Tuesday in Berlin that he was very confident that both countries might be admitted quickly. At the same time, the Chancellor added that both countries might be sure of Germany’s support. There is already a promise of assistance within the EU. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had previously said that Germany would also give security guarantees for the phase between the application for membership and the actual admissions. After that, article five of the NATO treaty applies to the members, which stipulates mutual assistance in the event of an attack.

Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP) defended Austria’s neutrality. “It is the decision of each individual state to join an alliance,” said Tanner on the sidelines of a meeting with her EU counterparts in Brussels on Tuesday. For Austria, “the situation is constitutionally very clear” because, unlike the two non-aligned states, it is neutral. Neutrality is “in the heart of the Austrians,” affirmed Tanner. The discussion regarding an Austrian security doctrine is currently going on in parliament, “in the place that is also responsible for it,” said the defense minister.

(APA/dpa)