Finland will stand “as a full-fledged member of” NATO at a high-level meeting this week in a setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambition to “roll back” the trans-Atlantic alliance.
“It's not for Moscow to decide who's going to be a member of NATO or not,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters. “It's for the applicant countries and for NATO to decide, and this [will be] clearly demonstrated here at the NATO headquarters tomorrow when we raise the Finnish flag and finalize the Finnish accession process.
The finalization of Finland’s application will prompt Russia to adjust its military posture in the border area, according to a senior Russian official. Putin launched a three-pronged invasion of Ukraine last year, just weeks after unveiling a series of demands for Western officials.
The festivities will be marred somewhat by the fact that Sweden’s application to join the alliance remains stalled. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delayed the ratification of both applications due to their arms embargoes on Turkey and the Nordic states’ welcome of Kurdish refugees, whom Erdogan regards as affiliates of a Turkish Kurd separatist group. The three countries struck an agreement to resolve the disputes, but Erdogan has refused to deem Sweden in compliance with that deal.
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