STOCKHOLM / HELSINKI, April 13 (Reuters) – Finland will decide whether to apply to join the US-led NATO alliance in the next few weeks, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday, stressing a change in security prospects following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. .
Finland and the other Scandinavian country and neighboring Sweden are close partners with NATO, but refused to join the 30-member alliance, founded in 1949 to oppose the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
“We must be prepared for any action by Russia,” Marin told reporters at a joint news conference in Stockholm with his Swedish counterpart.
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She said the option of joining NATO should be carefully analyzed, but that everything changed when Russian forces invaded Ukraine in late February.
“The difference between being a partner and being a member is very clear and will remain so. There is no other way to have security guarantees than under NATO deterrence and common defense, guaranteed by Article 5 of NATO,” she said.
“I will not give any schedule when we will make our decisions, but I think it will happen quite quickly – within weeks, not months,” said Marin, whose country shares a 1,300km (810 miles) border with Russia to the east.
She said it was important to reach a consensus in Finland, which had fought Soviet invaders during World War II and had not been militarily bound since, and that political parties would have internal talks in parliament in the coming weeks.
Public opinion in Finland has turned to NATO, with the latest poll by private television MTV showing that 68% of respondents are in favor of joining, with only 12% opposed.
The Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin speaks at a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not pictured) before talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, March 16, 2022. John McDougall / Poole via REUTERS
“Yes, I used to be against joining NATO. But today I think it’s a sensible choice, “Ville Pohjonen, the media’s chief creative officer, told Reuters in Helsinki.
Student Anti Laulaja said, “Yes, I definitely think Russia has shown its true face, so I think we need to join NATO.”
An update to the Finnish government’s White Paper on Foreign and Security Policy, released Wednesday, said Russia’s invasion had profoundly changed the security situation, but made no recommendations on joining NATO.
Finland and Sweden, which are also reviewing their security policy with conclusions expected by the end of May, are both participating in NATO exercises and crisis management initiatives, as well as exchanging intelligence with the Alliance.
But until recently, the two northern neighbors thought it was best to keep the peace by not publicly choosing a country.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson has said that NATO membership has pros and cons, although the main advantage is the security of Article 5, which says the alliance sees an attack on one member as an attack on all.
Sweden was a neutral state during World War II and has not fought a war for more than 200 years.
Russia has repeatedly warned both sides not to join NATO. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that if Finland and Sweden joined NATO, Russia would have to “rebalance the situation” with its own measures. Read more
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Report by Simon Johnson and Johan Alander in Stockholm and Ann Kauranen, Essie Lehto and Sergei Mikusa in Helsinki, edited by Mark Heinrich
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