Finland and Sweden could soon join NATO, moves that would likely infuriate Moscow and that officials say would further underscore Russia’s strategic error in invading Ukraine. 7NEWS
“The Finns think that if Putin can slaughter his sisters, brothers and cousins in Ukraine, as he is doing now, then there is nothing stopping him from doing it in Finland. We simply don’t want to be left alone again,” Stubb said, recalling the Soviet-Finnish Winter War, which lasted from November 1939 to March 1940.The Kremlin said Thursday it would have to “rebalance the situation” if Sweden and Finland were to join NATO.
Both Stubb and the Finnish official said Helsinki expects such types of attacks, and they downplayed the potential of a severe response from Moscow should Finland - which shares a more than 800-mile border with Russia - join NATO.However, some NATO countries are looking at the possibility of Russia carrying out an attack before Finland falls under the protections of the alliance, according to a European official.
They said there have been signals from other countries that they would offer support if there were security concerns in the interim between application and ratification of NATO membership. The Finnish official noted that their country is essentially already “a member without being a member.”Those countries already have extremely close relationships with NATO and would be a huge asset, NATO officials told CNN, especially when it comes to intelligence sharing.
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