As it nears the three quarters of a century mark, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is welcoming the addition of Finland as a 31st member – and recasting the balance of Europe's military defenses.
"Finland will formally join our alliance in the coming days," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday. "Their membership will make Finland safer and NATO stronger."
Finland is joining the nearly 75-year-old alliance just as Russia takes over the monthly presidency of the U.N. Security Council for April.
That position revolves among the council's 15 members, and Russia – and by extension, its leader, Vladimir Putin, who faces an arrest warrant on charges of war crimes in Ukraine – has one of five permanent seats.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, upended the European defense landscape, prompting Finland and Sweden to favor joining NATO. Finland is charting a new course after decades of official nonalignment.
Sweden's bid to join NATO has been in jeopardy since a protester was allowed to burn a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy at Stockholm in January. NATO's 30 members must all approve any new member; Turkey and Hungary have delayed Sweden's approval.
Turkey’s parliament ratified Finland’s application to join the military alliance late Thursday, clearing the path for the Northern European nation to become NATO's 31st member since the North Atlantic Treaty's signing on April 4, 1949.
And so the map turned all green.
— Finland at NATO (@FinMissionNATO) March 31, 2023
Sincere thanks to all 30 Allies for ratifying Finland's #NATO membership.#FinlandNATO pic.twitter.com/JZ4HZ6ACqd
Raising of the NATO flag at the Arches of the Cinquantenaire ahead of #NATO Day, which will mark 74 years since NATO’s founding document was signed
— Carmen Romero (@NATORomeroC) March 31, 2023
The Alliance is stronger than ever & growing with #Finland joining and we look forward to welcoming #Sweden as a full member soon pic.twitter.com/PCURCHbwgs
Finland's 'advance capabilities'
The addition will more than double the length of the 1,215 kilometers (755 miles) of borders that NATO member nations share with Russia. Finland and Russia share a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border.
But even with the addition of Finland as a sixth member nation that shares a border with Russia, NATO will bear responsibility toward only about 13% of the 20,000 kilometers of land borders that Russia shares with 14 other countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has long warned against NATO's eastward expansion, making neighbors wary. NATO calls itself a defensive alliance to protect its member nations, however, and says its exercises and military deployments are not directed against Russia or any other country.
"Finland has highly capable forces. Advanced capabilities. And strong democratic institutions. So Finland will bring a lot to our alliance," Stoltenberg said. "I look forward to also welcoming Sweden as a full member of the NATO family as soon as possible."
