Finland officially joined the NATO military alliance on April 4, in a major realignment of Europe’s security scene post-Cold War. The move marks the abandonment by the Nordic country of its decades-long military neutrality, triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO, doubling Russia’s border with nations belonging to the Western military alliance. According to Finnish leaders, the move was prompted by Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
“A year ago, he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) started the Ukrainian operation in order to prevent NATO from expanding further to the East. Well, now he has received 1,200 kilometers of border with NATO,” Dmitry Oreshkin, professor at Free University in Riga told the Associated Press.
Finland and Sweden applied at the same time to join NATO last May, motivated by similar reasons. However, Sweden’s membership is still pending ratification by NATO members Hungary and Turkiye.
The Russian Foreign Ministry described Finland’s move as a historic mistake. A Kremlin spokesperson warned that Russia would take necessary countermeasures.
Russian officials say those actions will depend on what weapons NATO allies might place near Russia’s border with Finland.
Russia, however, downplayed the political impact of Finland’s accession to NATO.
“The situation with Finland is fundamentally different from the situation in Ukraine. Why? Well, Finland hasn’t become an ‘anti-Russia’ and we haven’t had any disputes with Finland,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
NATO has repeatedly emphasized that it is a defensive alliance and doesn’t aim to threaten Russia.
Russia however cited NATO’s armament of Ukraine as proof of the contrary.
Where do the Finnish people stand?
"It does bring some kind of sense of security of course, so that is quite good,” Timber worker who lives in Miehikkala, Aki Mentula told Reuters.
Financial Assistant, Henri Laukkanen has a different view "I feel maybe a little conflicted about joining NATO because I'm not the biggest fan of NATO, but at the same time even less a fan of Russia."
The Finnish parliament, meanwhile, said its website was hit Tuesday by a cyber-attack, preventing many pages from loading.
A pro-Russia hacking group claimed responsibility for the attack. The group called “NoName057 (16)”said the attack was in response to Finland joining NATO.
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