Finland will formally be welcomed into Nato “within days” after Turkey’s ratification of the Nordic country’s accession to the western defence alliance, the Nato secretary general has announced.
“All 30 Nato allies have now ratified the accession protocol,” Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday. “Finland will formally join our alliance in the coming days.”
The move brings to an end decades of Finnish neutrality over Nato, and has been driven by concern over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland shares a border with Russia.
In a statement after the Turkish vote, the Finnish government said joining the alliance would strengthen the country’s security and improve stability and security in the region.
Sanna Marin, the Finnish prime minister, tweeted: “As allies, we will give and receive security. We will defend each other. Finland stands with Sweden now and in the future and supports its application.”
Finland’s imminent accession to Nato came as Russia said on Friday that a ceasefire in Ukraine would not enable it to achieve the goals of its “special military operation” at the moment.
The Kremlin was reacting after the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko – Russia’s closest ally – called for an immediate ceasefire without preconditions, and for Moscow and Kyiv to start negotiations on a lasting peace settlement.
Finland’s membership represents the first enlargement since North Macedonia joined the alliance in 2020.
Despite Turkey initially delaying Finland’s bid to join the western defence alliance, the speed of Finland’s negotiations and accession process has been striking and comes as Moscow prepares to take over the chair of the UN security council.
With any Nato expansion requiring the support of all of its members, Ankara had delayed an even quicker accession by Finland, citing concerns about the country’s support for Kurdish groups and about arms exports.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, said this month that Finland had satisfied Ankara’s objections after taking steps to crack down on groups seen by Ankara as “terrorists” and to free up defence exports. This week, Turkish officials said Finland had fulfilled its obligations under a memorandum signed last year, in which the two countries pledged to address Turkey’s security concerns.
Sweden, however, which applied to join Nato at the same time last May, is still being blocked by Ankara over similar complaints.
Stoltenberg said on Twitter: “I look forward to raising Finland’s flag at Nato HQ in the coming days. Together we are stronger and safer.”
Finland, which has an 832-mile border with Russia, is set to become the seventh Nato country on the Baltic Sea, further isolating Russia’s coastal access at St Petersburg and on its small exclave of Kaliningrad.
Having completed the ratification process, Turkey and Hungary need to send their approving documents to Washington, which is the depository of Nato under the alliance’s founding treaty. Stoltenberg will then formally invite Finland to join Nato.
As a final step, Finland will deliver its “instrument of accession”, a document signed by its foreign minister.
Finnish accession means that it will come under the organisation’s mutual defence umbrella, which treats an attack on any individual member country as an attack on Nato requiring a collective response.
Finland’s move to joining Nato marks a staggering turn around in public opinion in the country. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, only a third of Finns supported joining Nato. Russia’s war on Ukraine led almost overnight to support for joining becoming an overwhelming majority.
The move by Finland and Sweden to join Nato – condemned by Moscow as driven by Russophobic hysteria – is a severe blow to the Kremlin, which had justified its war against Ukraine by citing Nato expansion on its borders, but which ironically has driven more countries to join Nato.
Despite Ankara’s approval of Finland’s membership, talks between Sweden and Turkey have made little progress, with the US state department encouraging Turkey to quickly ratify Sweden’s accession as well. “Sweden and Finland are both strong, capable partners that share Nato’s values and will strengthen the Alliance and contribute to European security,” a department spokesperson said. Sweden also requires a vote on ratification in the Hungarian parliament.
Belarus’s comments on a ceasefire came as Minsk was preparing to allow the Russian deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on its soil. Lukashenko said on Friday he did not fear the possibility of new western sanctions against his country over the deployment.
In an hours-long televised address to the nation, Lukashenko said Minsk was prepared to defend its sovereignty through any means necessary, including nuclear.
He also said Belarus had deployed a special forces contingent to its southern border with Ukraine “to prevent provocations”.
