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Sweden and Finland hope to join NATO

By Earle Gale in London | China Daily Global | Updated: 2022-05-16 10:05

A NATO flag is seen at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, in this Oct 21, 2021 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

Germany says it wants to expedite process while Russia warns about consequences

Sweden and Finland are poised to abandon decades of official military non-alignment and seek membership of NATO.

The countries, which had previously favored official neutrality out of a desire not to antagonize Moscow, said they were pushed into seeking the support of the 30-member alliance because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and their fear of having a similar experience to that of Ukraine.

Sweden's prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, said her Social Democratic Party decided on Sunday to support the idea and will ask Parliament to endorse it.

Finland's government decided on Thursday to ask its Parliament to approve a drive to join.

The Financial Times newspaper said the parliamentary ratification in both nations will be a formality, and likely take place on Monday.

The paper said the countries will then make a joint application, on Tuesday or Wednesday, to join NATO.

The organization could take as long as a year to process the request, although Germany has said it will do all it can to expedite things.

Russia responded to the prospect of NATO-aligned territory creeping closer to its borders by saying such a move would elicit "serious consequences".

The BBC said Russia's President Vladimir Putin phoned his counterpart in Finland, Sauli Niinisto, to say Moscow had not endangered its neighbor.

The Kremlin said Putin stressed the "end of the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake".

"Such a change in the country's political orientation can have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations developed over years in a spirit of good neighborliness and cooperation between partners," the Kremlin added.

The BBC quoted Niinisto as saying: "The conversation was direct and straightforward and it was conducted without aggravations. Avoiding tensions was considered important."

The Reuters news agency said the prospect of Sweden and Finland seeking NATO membership had been "very distant" a few months ago. But it said both governments rethought their positions in the wake of "a wave of public support for NATO membership" after the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

A Swedish cross-party parliamentary review on Friday concluded membership of NATO would boost the nation's national security and stabilize the Nordic and Baltic regions.

Finland's prime minister, Sanna Marin, said on Sunday she does not think there will be any long-term obstacles to joining NATO.

"We haven't had any indication in NATO that there would be any problems for Finland's or Sweden's membership," she said.

An application to join the organization needs the support of all members and Turkey immediately signaled it may not give its backing because of Sweden and Finland's alleged tolerance of organizations Ankara deems supporters of terrorism.

However, the Financial Times newspaper said a top Turkish aide on Saturday downplayed the prospect of the country blocking the bids.

Ibrahim Kalın, Turkey's presidential spokesman, told Reuters Ankara merely wants negotiations with the countries and is "not closing door" on them.

While Sweden and Finland have been officially neutral for decades, they have become NATO partners in recent years and have taken part in several military exercises. They also joined the European Union — together in 1995 — in another move that signaled they were edging away from full neutrality.

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