BERLIN (AP) — Finland declared Sunday that it wants to join NATO, and the head of the transatlantic military alliance expressed hope that as Russia’s military advance appears to falter, Ukraine could win the war..
President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced that Finland would seek NATO membership during a joint press conference at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki. The previously neutral Nordic country shares a long border with Russia.
“This is a historic day. A new era begins,” said Niinisto.
The Finnish Parliament is expected to approve the decision in the coming days. A formal application for membership will then be sent to NATO headquarters in Brussels, most likely sometime next week.
The announcement came as top diplomats from NATO’s 30 member states met in Berlin to discuss providing more support to Ukraine and the Finnish and Swedish moves. and others to join NATO in the face of threats from Russia.
“Russia’s war in Ukraine is not going as Moscow had planned,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, speaking by video while recovering from a COVID-19 infection. “They failed to take kyiv. They are withdrawing from the outskirts of Kharkiv. Their big offensive in Donbas has stalled. Russia is not achieving its strategic goals.”
“Ukraine can win this war,” he said, adding that NATO must continue to increase its military support to the country.
Sweden has also already taken measures towards joining the alliance, while Georgia’s offer it is being discussed again despite dire warnings from Moscow about the consequences if its neighbor becomes part of NATO.
Nordic NATO member Norway said it strongly welcomed Finland’s decision to seek membership. Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt described the Helsinki move as “a turning point” for defense and security policies in the Nordic region.
“Finnish NATO membership will be good for Finland, good for the Nordic region and good for NATO. Finland has Norway’s full support,” Huitfeldt said in comments emailed to The Associated Press.
Huitfeldt said the Norwegian government would facilitate “quick consent for ratification by the Norwegian Parliament” for Finland’s NATO membership.
“Now we are seeing unprecedented unity in NATO. With the Finnish membership, we will further strengthen the Nordic flank of the military alliance,” said Huitfeldt.
Stoltenberg said he was confident that the accession process for Finland and Sweden could be speeded up in existing member states. In the meantime, the alliance would increase its presence in the Baltic region to deter Russian threats, he said.
“All allies realize the historic magnitude of the moment,” Stoltenberg added.
That sentiment was shared by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
“Sweden and Finland, if they are ready, we are ready,” he said.
Denmark’s foreign minister rejected suggestions that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s objections could prevent the alliance from admitting new members.
“Each and every European country has the fundamental right to choose its own security arrangement,” Jeppe Kofod told reporters.
“We now see a world where the number one enemy of democracy is Putin and the thought he represents,” he said, adding that NATO would also support other countries, such as Georgia, which he said Russia was “instrumenting.” .
On the sidelines of the meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba on Sunday to discuss the impact of the war and how to get Ukrainian grain to international markets.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken “underscored America’s enduring commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s unprovoked war.”
Britain’s top diplomat said NATO members will also discuss security issues beyond Europe during their meeting on Sunday, a reference to growing unease among democratic nations about the rise of China.
“In addition to protecting Euro-Atlantic security, we must also be careful about Indo-Pacific security,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.
The meeting follows a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Seven leading economies on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast this week. Officials expressed strong support for Ukraine and warned that Russia’s blockade of grain exports from Ukrainian ports risks fueling a global food crisis..
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Jari Tanner reported from Helsinki. AP diplomatic writer Matthew Lee contributed from Berlin.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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