Finland’s leaders yesterday said that they are in favor of rapidly applying for NATO membership, paving the way for an expansion of the alliance that could deal a blow to Russia as its military struggles with its war in Ukraine.
The move by Finland was announced by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
It means that Finland is all but certain to join NATO, although a few steps remain before the application process can begin.
Photo: AP
Sweden is expected to decide on joining NATO in the next few days.
“NATO membership would strengthen Finland’s security. As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defense alliance,” Niinisto and Marin said in a joint statement. “Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay. We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days.”
The Kremlin reacted to the development a few hours later, saying that Finland’s move to join NATO would not help stability and security in Europe.
Photo: AP
Finland shares a 1,340km land border with Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia’s response to the move would depend on what specific steps NATO would take to bring its infrastructure close to Russian borders.
He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has already ordered to work out steps to bolster the country’s defenses in the west in response to NATO’s expansion closer to Russian territory.
Previously, the Kremlin had warned of “military and political repercussions” if Sweden and Finland join NATO.
Should they apply, there will be an interim period lasting from when an application has been handed in until all 30 NATO members’ parliaments have ratified it.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas wrote on Twitter: “History being made by our northern neighbors.”
Kallas pledged to support “a rapid accession process” for Finland into NATO, of which Estonia is a member.
Finland’s announcement came a day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Finland and Sweden to sign a military cooperation agreement.
The UK on Wednesday pledged to aid Sweden and Finland if the two Nordic nations were to be attacked.
During a news conference with Johnson in Helsinki, Niinisto said that Moscow could only blame itself should his nation become a NATO member.
“You [Russia] caused this. Look at the mirror,” Niinisto said.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
NEW LOW: The council in 2024 based predictions on a pessimistic estimate for the nation’s total fertility rate of 0.84, but last year that rate was 0.69, 17 percent lower An expected National Development Council (NDC) report expects the nation’s population to drop below 12 million by 2065, with the old-age dependency ratio to top 100 percent sooner than 2070, sources said yesterday. The council is slated to release its latest population projections in August, using an ultra-low fertility model, the sources said. The previous report projected that Taiwan’s population would fall to 14.37 million by 2070, but based on a new estimate of the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — the population is expected to reach 12 million by
RSS