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NATO enhanced Forward Presence battlegroup tanks and infantry fighting vehicles fire during Iron Spear 2022 military exercise in Adazi military field, Latvia last month |
Finland said on Thursday it would apply to join NATO โwithout delayโ, with Sweden expected to follow, as Russiaโs invasion of Ukraine looked set to bring about the very expansion of the Western military alliance that Vladimir Putin aimed to prevent.
The decision by the two Nordic countries to abandon the neutrality they maintained throughout the Cold War would be one of the biggest shifts in European security in decades. Moscow called Finlandโs announcement a direct threat to Russia, and threatened retaliation, including unspecified โmilitary-technicalโ measures.
It came even as Russiaโs war in Ukraine was suffering another big setback, with Ukrainian forces driving Russian troops out of the region around the second largest city Kharkiv, the fastest Ukrainian advance since forcing Russia to withdraw from the capital and northeast more than a month ago.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the Finns would be โwarmly welcomedโ and promised a โsmooth and swiftโ accession process. French President Emmanuel Macron said he fully supported Finlandโs choice to join the alliance.
Finlandโs 1,300-km (800-mile) border will more than double the length of the frontier between the U.S.-led alliance and Russia, putting NATO guards a few hoursโ drive from the northern outskirts of St Petersburg.
โFinland must apply for NATO membership without delay,โ President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a joint statement, hoping steps to take the decision would โbe taken rapidly within the next few daysโ.
Asked whether Finlandโs accession posed a direct threat to Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: โDefinitely. NATO expansion does not make our continent more stable and secure.
โThis cannot fail to arouse our regret, and is a reason for corresponding symmetrical responses on our side,โ Peskov added.
Russiaโs foreign ministry said Moscow would be forced to take โretaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other natureโ, giving no further details. Russian officials have spoken in the past about potential measures including stationing nuclear-armed missiles on the Baltic Sea.
โLOOK AT THE MIRRORโ
Asked on Wednesday if Finland would provoke Russia by joining NATO, Niinisto said: โMy response would be that you caused this. Look at the mirror.โ
Five diplomats and officials told Reuters that NATO allies expect both countries to be granted membership quickly, paving the way for an increased troop presence in the Nordic region to defend them during a one-year ratification period.
Putin, Russiaโs president, cited NATOโs potential expansion as one of the main reasons he launched a โspecial military operationโ in Ukraine in February.
NATO describes itself as a defensive alliance, built around a treaty declaring that an attack on one member is an attack on all, granting U.S. allies the protection of Washingtonโs superpower might including its nuclear arsenal.
Moscow regards that as a threat to its security. But Putinโs decision to invade Ukraine has changed Nordic public opinion, with political parties that had long backed neutrality now embracing the view that Russia is a menace.
Finland in particular has centuries of uneasy history in Russiaโs shadow. Ruled by the Russian empire from 1809-1917, it fought off Soviet invasions on the eve of World War Two, and accepted some Soviet influence as the price of avoiding taking sides in the Cold War. Since it and Sweden joined the EU in 1995, they have aligned more firmly with the West.
UKRAINIAN COUNTER-ATTACK
Thursday also saw an intensification of disputes over Russian supplies of energy to Europe โ still Moscowโs biggest source of funds and Europeโs biggest source of heat and power.
Moscow said it would halt gas flows to Germany through the main pipeline over Poland, while Kyiv said it would not reopen a pipeline route it shut this week unless it regains control of areas from pro-Russian fighters. Prices for gas in Europe surged.
In Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council decided to launch an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian troops during their occupation of the area near Kyiv, before they were driven out at the end of March.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said there were many examples of possible war crimes, including unlawful killings and summary executions.
Moscow denies deliberately attacking civilians. Its ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva said the West was โorganising another political rout to demonize Russiaโ.
On the front lines, Ukraine has mounted a counter-offensive in recent days, ousting Russian forces from villages north and east of Kharkiv they had held since the start of the invasion.
Reuters journalists have confirmed that Ukraine is now in control of territory stretching to the banks of the Siverskiy Donets River, around 40 km (25 miles) east of Kharkiv. To the north, the Ukrainians have been pushing towards the Russian border. In the latest advance, they announced on Wednesday the recapture of the village of Pytomnyk, halfway to the frontier.
โThe withdrawal of Russian forces from the Kharkiv Oblast (region) is a tacit recognition of Russiaโs inability to capture key Ukrainian cities where they expected limited resistance from the population,โ Britainโs defence ministry said.
Ukraineโs general staff said the Russians were regrouping to prevent further Ukrainian advances near Kharkiv.
Russiaโs retreat has begun to make it possible for some residents to return to recaptured villages around Kharkiv. But areas remain littered with mines and booby traps. The invasion has displaced more than 8 million people within Ukraine and the number of refugees to flee the country now exceeds 6 million, U.N. data showed.
REUTERS