Finland and Sweden decide early on when to join NATO

Officials America NATO’s membership with the two Nordic countries Finland and Sweden was the subject of discussions and sessions during negotiations between the 30-member bloc’s foreign ministers last week. Sweden and Finland are represented at these meetings.

The Finnish application is expected in June and Sweden is expected to follow, The Times reported.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said that it is time for Finland to seriously reconsider its position with NATO. “I think we’re going to have very thorough discussions, but we don’t take much longer than we have to in the process, because the situation is of course very serious,” she said.

Sweden is assessing its security policy which will end at the end of next month, similar to Finland’s schedule. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said two weeks ago: “I do not exclude NATO membership in any way.”

The two Nordic countries are working together to build consensus at home, but officials stressed the final decision will be made independently. Both Finland and Sweden are located across the Baltic Sea from Russia, and Finland has a common land border with Russia more than 1,300km long.

NATO is planning to deploy a full-scale military force permanently on the borders of its members to adapt to the “new reality”. NATO currently has 40,000 troops under its direct command on Europe’s eastern flank, from the Baltic to the Black Sea. This number marks a nearly 10-fold increase in the size of the force before Russia launched its military campaign in Ukraine 24.02.

NATO membership to Finland and Sweden will spur redeployment on Russia’s northwestern flank. Both Finland and Sweden will significantly enhance NATO’s capabilities, especially in terms of intelligence gathering capabilities and air power, European diplomats stressed. “Sweden and Finland will make a real contribution to NATO. They are the real players,” said a diplomat from the European Union.

Russia has warned about Finland and Sweden join NATO. “Everything is about mutual deterrence and if one side – and we consider NATO as one – is stronger than the other, especially in terms of nuclear weapons, then it will be seen as a threat to the whole world. set the security structure and force us to take additional measures,” Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, told Sky News on April 8.