Finland made its official entry into NATO on Tuesday, April 4, a “historic” shift caused by Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, according to the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hails a “historic day”.
Finland, which shares more than 1,300 km of borders with Russia, is turning its back on its legendary neutrality. The country will now benefit from conventional military assistance from its allies and from nuclear deterrence.
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Russia has not failed to react to this enlargement of NATO which is probably not finished, because Sweden is also knocking at the door of the Atlantic Alliance. ” This is a further aggravation of the situation. The enlargement of NATO is an attack on our security and on the national interests of the Russian Federation. This forces us to take countermeasures in tactical and strategic terms for our security, responded Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The situation with Finland is fundamentally different from that with Ukraine. Finland never became anti-Russian and we had no argument with it.
A change caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. ” With Ukraine, the situation is diametrically opposed and potentially dangerous. This is what dictated the need to launch a special operation and which requires achieving the goals set. But this accession can only affect the nature of the bilateral relations with the states which become new members of the alliance, because the Alliance is an unfriendly organization, hostile in more ways than one towards Russia. But I repeat: Ukraine is different from Finland, it is not possible to compare the two “.
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” We declare Finland the 31st member of the Alliance upon receipt of these documents declared the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, during a ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels. He hailed, like the head of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, a “ historic day “. ” I’m tempted to say that’s maybe the only thing we can thank (Russian President Vladimir) Putin for, because he once again precipitated something he said he wanted to avoid by attacking Ukraine, said Antony Blinken.