Finland and the other Nordic countries and neighboring Sweden are close allies of NATO, but avoided joining the 30-member alliance, which was formed in 1949 to confront the Soviet Union during the Cold War. “We must be prepared for any action by Russia,” Marin told reporters at a joint news conference in Stockholm with her Swedish counterpart. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register He said the choice to join NATO needed to be carefully considered, but that things changed when Russian forces invaded Ukraine in late February. “The difference between being a partner and being a member is very clear and will remain so. There is no other way to have security guarantees than to prevent and jointly defend NATO as guaranteed by NATO Article 5,” he said. “I will not give any kind of timetable for when we will make our decisions, but I think it will happen fairly quickly – in weeks, not months,” said Marin, whose country is 1,300 kilometers (810 miles) long. on the eastern border with Russia. He said it was important to reach a consensus in Finland, which fought the Soviet invaders during World War II and had been militarily non-aligned ever since, and that the political parties would have internal talks in parliament in the coming weeks. Public opinion in Finland has turned to NATO, with the latest poll by private broadcaster MTV showing 68% of respondents in favor of membership, with only 12% against. The Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin addresses a press conference with the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not shown) before the talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, March 16, 2022. John Macdougall / Pool via REUTERS “Yes, I was against NATO membership. But today, I think it is a sensible choice,” Ville Pohjonen, chief creative officer of a media company, told Reuters in Helsinki. Student Antti Laulaja said: “Yes, for sure, I think Russia has shown its true face, so I think we need to join NATO.” A Finnish government’s White Paper on its foreign and security policy, released on Wednesday, said the Russian invasion had profoundly changed the security situation but made no recommendations on NATO membership. Finland and Sweden, which is also reviewing its security policy with conclusions expected in late May, are both participating in NATO exercises and crisis management initiatives and exchanging information with the alliance. But until recently the two Scandinavian neighbors felt that peace was better maintained if they did not choose a public side. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said there were pros and cons to being a member of NATO, although the main advantage was the security of Article 5, according to which the alliance views an attack on one member as an attack on all. Sweden was a neutral state during World War II and has not fought a war for more than 200 years. Russia has repeatedly warned both countries not to join NATO. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov said that if Finland and Sweden joined NATO, Russia would have to “rebalance the situation” with its own measures. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Simon Johnson and Johan Ahlander in Stockholm and Anne Kauranen, Essi Lehto and Sergejs Mikusa in Helsinki, edited by Mark Heinrich Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
