Finland is already a member of NATO: what does this mean?

The Finnish flag has flown between the Estonian and French flags at NATO headquarters in Evere, a district north-east of Brussels since Tuesday. Thus takes over the Atlantic Alliance your Member State 31which asked to join, along with Sweden, after Russia attacked Ukraine.

The Swedes will have to wait for Turkey to lift its veto, probably after the Turkish elections in May.

Finland’s entry is proof of this strategic mistake which Moscow has committed by attacking Ukraine. If one of the official objectives of the war was to prevent the country from joining NATO by no longer having direct borders with the Atlantic Alliance, the entry of this new state means that Russia and NATO will go from having 1,205 kilometers of direct border to almost 2,600 kilometres.

On Monday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of Norway announced: “Tomorrow we will welcome Finland as the 31st member” and addressed Russian leader Vladimir Putin: “President Putin has entered the war with the official goal of have less NATO and you get the exact opposite.”

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö thanked the other 30 member states and assured that “Finland will be a strong and capable ally, committed to the security of the Alliance”.

The threat from Russia

Russia announced on Monday it will strengthen that flank. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grouchko said the Russian armed forces move more capacity to their western and northwestern regions. According to a cable from the RIA Novosti news agency, Grouchko said: “In the event of the deployment of forces and other means of other NATO members on Finnish territory, we will take additional measures for Russia’s military security.”

Finland’s membership of NATO is a 180-degree turn in its Defense and Security policy. The country, which resisted militarily to the Soviet Union in the 1930s despite having to cede its region of Karelia, was forced by the great powers to remain neutral during the Cold War.

Moscow did not attack Finland in exchange for not joining Western structures: NATO and what was then called the European Economic Community. The Western powers accepted this gentlemen’s agreement, which was concluded without the Finns being able to decide for themselves. That neutrality was not voluntary, but a way to avoid being a Soviet military target.

The end of the Cold War led Finland to join the European Union in 1994, but it stayed away from NATO. The right-wing parties were in favor and the left-wing parties were against, while the population was divided.

The Russian attack on Ukraine changed the mind of the vast majority of the parliamentary arch and the vast majority of the population and welcomed the entry into the Atlantic Alliance. A socialist prime minister, Sanna Marin, had the task of following the accession path, which lasted less than a year, from last May to this Tuesday.

What changes in the Atlantic Alliance

Finland’s accession strengthens NATO in various military aspects. The Atlantic Alliance is gaining a foothold in the Baltic, a sea which little by little, except for the small outlet of St. Petersburg, is becoming NATO’s internal sea. Also gain strategic depth.

The high command never officially recognized this but feared they could not defend the Baltic republics in the event of an attack. There are no large foreign military contingents on its territory and its armed forces are very small. Finland offers a very useful external platform in case of aggression against those three countries.

The new member of the Alliance does not come empty-handed and as its Foreign Minister Tytti Tuppurainen said last year, the country intends to be “an asset, not a burden”.

With just 5.5 million people and 12,000 professional soldiers, it has 870,000 in reserve who have received military training and can immediately mobilize 280,000. Its artillery capacity necessary to defend a land border with Russia that exceeds 1,000 kilometers, It is one of the largest in Europe.

Its Navy specializes in operating in the Baltic and Arctic and has a very powerful Air Force for the country’s size and economy. In December 2021, it ordered 64 F-35 fighter jets from the United States to strengthen and modernize its Air Force. The country is already spending 2.5% of its GDP on defense this year, as requested by NATO.

The Finnish army has been participating in NATO military missions and exercises for years. They regularly participate in meetings with their member state counterparts and their armed forces are fully compatible in material and ammunition with the other member states of the Atlantic Alliance.