Nordic applications fast-tracked in NATO bid to limit security risk

Finnish and Swedish membership will transform NATO’s northern flank, more than doubling its border with Russia.

Sanna Marin announces in Helsinki late on Sunday that Finland will seek NATO membership. Picture: AFP

NATO will fast-track applications from Finland and Sweden to join the alliance as secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said Russia could lose the war in Ukraine.

Finnish and Swedish membership will transform NATO’s northern flank, more than doubling its border with Russia and reinforcing Western defence of the Baltic states. Both Nordic countries were neutral throughout the Cold War but have sought to join NATO after President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“This is a historic day. A new era begins,” Finland President Sauli Niinisto, 73, said at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Sanna Marin, 36, on Sunday as he announced his country’s ­application for membership.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, 55, said her ­Social Democrats had ditched 200 years of non-alignment by bidding to join NATO.

She said on Monday that the government would inform NATO that Sweden wanted to become a member of the alliance, committing to one of the biggest geopolitical shifts in Europe since the end of the Soviet Union.

Sweden Foreign Minister Ann Linde, 60, earlier hailed “a historic decision”, saying: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has worsened the security situation for Sweden and the whole of Europe.”

After talks between NATO foreign ministers in Berlin late on Sunday, Mr Stoltenberg said Mr Putin’s plans were not going well.

“Russia’s war in Ukraine is not going as Moscow had planned,” he said, pledging to continue support for Kyiv.

“They failed to take Kyiv. They are pulling back from around Kharkiv. Their major offensive in Donbas has stalled. Ukraine can win this war. Ukrainians are bravely defending their homeland. Russia is not achieving its strategic objectives. President Putin wants Ukraine defeated, NATO down. But Ukraine stands, NATO is stronger than ever.”

Annalena Baerbock, 41, the German Foreign Minister hosting the talks, said the applications would be dealt with quickly after a summit of NATO leaders in Madrid next month. “They should be able to join quickly,” she said. “There must not be a transition period, a grey zone, where their status is unclear.”

Mr Stoltenberg said allies would provide “security assurances” to deter Russia from trying to intimidate countries before their membership applications were finished. Sweden and Finland face Russia across the Baltic Sea. The Finnish also have a 1335km border with Russia.

This puts both countries, which have significant intelligence gathering and air force capabilities, alongside Norway, a founding NATO member, in the frontline of a new northern flank.

The membership applications have angered Mr Putin because his military will be further stretched as it faces prolonged conflict in Ukraine. Russia has cut off electricity supplies to Finland.

Moscow has warned of “serious consequences” if the two countries join NATO and threatened to station nuclear weapons in its exclave of Kaliningrad ­between Poland and Lithuania.

Mr Niinisto said he had a “cool and calm” phone call with Mr Putin on Friday. “He confirmed that he thinks it’s a mistake,” he told CNN. “What we see now, ­Europe, the world, is more divided. There’s not very much room for non-aligned in-between.”

The alliance played down Turkey’s criticism of the failure by Finland and Sweden to condemn “terrorists”, a reference to the Kurdish separatist PKK and YPG groups. The groups have waged an insurgency against Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

“Turkey made it clear that its intention is not to block membership,” Mr Stoltenberg said. “I’m confident that we will be able to address the concerns that Turkey has expressed in a way that doesn’t delay the membership.”

Ankara is expected to support the membership applications in return for guarantees that both countries will condemn Kurdish terrorism and drop restrictions on arms exports to Turkey.

Alliance diplomats said Turkey was also looking for concessions from Washington after a dispute over its purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defence system in 2017. Mr Niinisto said he was “prepared to have a new discussion with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the problems he has raised”.

Finland’s parliament was to convene to debate the membership proposal on Monday. “We hope the parliament will confirm the decision to apply for NATO membership during the coming days. It will be based on a strong mandate,” Ms Marin said.

A vast majority of Finnish MPs back the decision after Ms Marin’s Social Democratic Party on Saturday said it was in favour of joining. “Hopefully, we can send our applications next week together with Sweden,” she said on Saturday

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Berlin on Sunday and said he was confident consensus would be reached. “This is a process,” he said. “And NATO is a place of dialogue.”

The Times