NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg. Photo: Virginia Mayo / AP / NTB
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3. apr. 2023 13:54 – Updated Apr 3 2023 14:02
Russia will strengthen its military capacity in the north and northwest in response to Finland’s accession to NATO, according to the Ria news agency.
There is Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko who informs the Russian news agency of this.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday that Finland will officially become a member of the alliance on Tuesday.
– A historic week
– This is a historic week, said Stoltenberg when he presented the news at a press conference in Brussels on Monday.
The news is also confirmed by Finland’s presidential office.
– Tomorrow we will welcome Finland as the 31st NATO member. It will make Finland safer and our alliance stronger. We will raise the Finnish flag for the first time here at NATO headquarters, says Stoltenberg.
He adds that this will also strengthen the security of Sweden, even though the country is not yet a formal member of NATO.
Sweden must wait
On Monday last week, the Finns got the go-ahead from Hungary’s National Assembly, and on Thursday Turkey followed suit. Thus, all 30 member states of NATO have approved Finland’s application.
The Finns and Sweden reversed themselves on the NATO issue after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year. The two countries’ applications were accepted during the NATO summit in Madrid in June and have since been ratified in turn by the member countries’ national assemblies.
In Hungary and Turkey, however, the process has been trained, and Turkey has made a number of demands on the Nordic countries. Among other things, the Turks demand that Sweden must hand over a number of people connected to Kurdish organizations and the Gülen movement.
In mid-March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was ready to admit Finland, but not Sweden.
