Finland and Sweden are one step closer to joining NATO as 30 members of the alliance on Tuesday signed off on an accession protocol.
The signing of the protocol was made possible after Turkey lifted its opposition to the two Nordic countries joining the bloc last week.
“This is truly a historic moment for Finland, for Sweden and for NATO,” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels. “With 32 nations around the table, we will be even stronger.”
Both applications will now move forward to each of the member state parliaments for ratification, which could take up to a year, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that his government could still reverse its decision if its demands are not met.
Finland and Sweden will not initially be covered by Article 5 — which states that an attack against one member is an attack on all — but will be given access to intelligence. The two nations share a border with Russia.
This comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last month that he is backing down from his country’s objection to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
“As far as expansion goes, including new members Finland and Sweden, Russia has no problems with these states — none. And so in this sense there is no immediate threat to Russia from an expansion to include these countries,” Putin said.
However, he claimed that the NATO expansion was being used by the US in an “aggressive” way to aggravate an already difficult global security situation and that Russia would respond if the alliance moves weapons or troops forward.
“The expansion of military infrastructure into this territory would certainly provoke our response. What that (response) will be – we will see what threats are created for us,” the Russian president said. “Problems are being created for no reason at all. We shall react accordingly.”
Finnish and Swedish accession would change the strategic map of northern Europe, giving NATO control of nearly the entire Baltic Sea coast and more than doubling the alliance’s land borders with Russia.
Despite Putin’s decision, Russian general staff has reportedly begun mobilizing its military reinforcements to replace ineffective units already on the ground in Ukraine’s contested eastern border regions with Russia.
