Finland confirms NATO bid, Putin threatens retaliation

HELSINKI, May 15

Finland will apply for membership in the NATO military alliance, the country’s President, Sauli Niinisto, confirmed on Sunday, in a historic policy shift prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow, which shares a 1,300 km border with Finland, has said it would be a mistake for Helsinki to join the 30-strong transatlantic alliance and that it would harm bilateral ties.

Sweden is also expected to follow suit as public support for membership has grown amid security concerns.

Sunday’s announcement comes after Niinisto and Finland’s Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, said on Thursday they both favoured membership in NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), giving a green light for the country to apply.

“Today, we, the President and the government’s foreign policy committee, have together decided that Finland … will apply for NATO membership,” Niinisto told reporters in the presidential palace in Helsinki.

Niinisto called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday to tell him of Finland’s plans to join the alliance. Putin said such a move would hurt Russian-Finnish relations. — Reuters

NATO expects Turkey not to play spoilsport

Berlin: NATO and the US said on Sunday they were confident that Turky would not hold up bids by Finland and Sweden to join the Western military alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Turkey, which had surprised its allies by saying it had reservations about Finnish and Swedish membership, laid out its demands on Sunday on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers in Berlin. Ankara said it wanted the two countries to halt support for Kurdish militant groups.