By LORNE COOK and MATTHEW LEE (Associated Press)
BRUSSELS (AP) — Finland joined the NATO navy alliance Tuesday, dealing a significant blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a historic realignment of Europe’s post-Cold War safety panorama triggered by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Nordic nation’s membership doubles Russia’s border with the world’s largest safety alliance. Finland had adopted neutrality after its defeat by the Soviets in World War II, however its leaders signaled they wished to affix NATO simply months after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine despatched a shiver of worry by means of its neighbors.
In praising Finland’s membership, U.S. President Joe Biden famous it got here on the 74th anniversary of the signing of NATO’s founding treaty on April 4, 1949.
“When Putin launched his brutal war of aggression against the people of Ukraine, he thought he could divide Europe and NATO. He was wrong,” Biden mentioned. “Today, we are more united than ever. And together — strengthened by our newest ally, Finland — we will continue to preserve transatlantic security, defend every inch of NATO territory, and meet any and all challenges we face.”
The transfer is a strategic and political setback for Putin, who has lengthy complained about NATO’s growth towards Russia and partly used that as a justification for the invasion.
“I’m tempted to say this is maybe the one thing that we can thank Mr. Putin for because he once again here precipitated something he claims to want to prevent by Russia’s aggression, causing many countries to believe that they have to do more to look out for their own defense and to make sure that they can deter possible Russian aggression going forward,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned earlier than accepting the paperwork that made Finland’s membership official.
The U.S. State Department is the repository of NATO texts regarding membership.
Russia warned it will be compelled to take “retaliatory measures” to deal with what it referred to as safety threats created by Finland’s membership. It had additionally warned it will bolster forces close to Finland if NATO sends any further troops or tools to what’s its thirty first member nation.
The alliance says it poses no menace to Moscow.
Alarmed by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine final yr, Finland, which shares a 1,340 kilometer (832 mile) border with Russia, utilized to affix in May, setting apart years of navy nonalignment to hunt safety below the group’s safety umbrella.
“It’s a great day for Finland and an important day for NATO, too,” mentioned Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. “Russia tried to create a sphere around them and, well, we are not a sphere. I’m sure that Finns themselves feel more secure, that we are living in a more stable world.”
Neighboring Sweden, which has prevented navy alliances for greater than 200 years, has additionally utilized. But objections from NATO members Turkey and Hungary have delayed the method.
Niinisto mentioned Finland’s membership “is just not full with out that of Sweden. The persistent efforts for a fast Swedish membership proceed.“
Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Ministry mentioned Moscow “will be forced to take military-technical and other retaliatory measures to counter the threats to our national security arising from Finland’s accession to NATO.”
It mentioned Finland’s transfer marks “a fundamental change in the situation in Northern Europe, which had previously been one of the most stable regions in the world.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned Finland’s membership displays the alliance’s anti-Russian course and warned that Moscow will reply relying on what weapons NATO allies place there. But he additionally sought to minimize the affect, noting that Russia has no territorial disputes with Finland.
It’s not clear what further navy assets Russia might ship to the Finnish border. Moscow has deployed the majority of its most succesful navy models to Ukraine.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg mentioned no extra troops could be despatched to Finland until it requested for assist.
The nation is now protected by what Stoltenberg referred to as NATO’s “iron-clad security guarantee,” below which all member nations vow to come back to the protection of any ally that comes below assault.
But Stoltenberg refused to rule out the opportunity of holding extra navy workouts there and mentioned that NATO wouldn’t enable Russia’s calls for to dictate the group’s choices.
“We are constantly assessing our posture, our presence. We have more exercises, we have more presence, also in the Nordic area,” he mentioned.
Finland’s Parliament, in the meantime, mentioned its web site was hit with a so-called denial-of-service assault, which made the positioning onerous to make use of, with many pages not loading and a few capabilities not accessible.
A professional-Russian hacker group often known as NoName057 (16) claimed duty, saying the assault was retaliation for Finland becoming a member of NATO. The declare couldn’t be instantly verified.
The hacker group, which has reportedly acted on Moscow’s orders, has taken celebration in a slew of cyberattacks on the U.S. and its allies prior to now. Finnish public broadcaster YLE mentioned the identical group hit the Parliament’s website final yr.
Finland’s entry was marked with a flag-raising ceremony at NATO headquarters and a gathering of the alliance’s international ministers.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com”