NATO

As NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels today (4 April 2023), Finland will become the 31st member of the Alliance. “On this very day, in 1949, ...

The Nordic nation's decision to join the defense alliance is seen as a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the Stimson Center's Emma Ashford ...

Finnish leaders obviously felt that it was better to be inside the alliance and reduce that sort of risk of this limbo period even if Sweden weren't there. They fought a war against Russia in the 1930s and into the 1940s for their own self-defense against the Soviet Union, and they kept that up through the Cold War." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov separately told reporters that Finland's accession to NATO was forcing Moscow to take countermeasures to ensure its security. Finland raced to join NATO after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year. After years of public opposition to joining NATO inside Finland, polling now shows Finns embrace the move. At the ceremony, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced, "For almost 75 years, this great alliance has shielded our nations and continues to do so today.

BRUSSELS: Finland's blue-and-white Nordic cross flag was hoisted outside NATO headquarters on Tuesday as it became the alliance's 31st member, in a hi...

Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said, had “wanted to slam NATO’s door shut. The United States and other NATO members led the calls for Sweden to join as soon as Finland's flag was fluttering in the cold Brussels breeze. NATO was created as a counterweight to the Soviet Union at the onset of the Cold War era that began immediately after the Allies defeated Nazi Germany. US President Joe Biden said the alliance was strengthened by its newest member and promised to “defend every inch of NATO territory”. “Finland now has the strongest friends and allies in the world,“ NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said. NATO leaders will now turn up the pressure on their awkward allies Hungary and Turkey to lift their block on Sweden joining.

MOSCOW: Russia said on Tuesday Finland's accession to the Nato military alliance was a dangerous historic mistake that would weaken security in the wider ...

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Authorities in Helsinki decided that in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. · Finland shares an 832-mile border with Russia, the longest ...

Finland's accession roughly doubles the length of the border that Nato shares with Russia and bolsters its eastern flank as the war in Ukraine grinds on ...

"This is a question of utmost importance for Sweden... Blinken said: "I'm tempted to say this is maybe the one thing we can thank Mr Putin for. Nato is also a key goal for Ukraine." Moscow would watch closely for any Nato military deployments in Finland, he said. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the move raised the prospect of the conflict in Ukraine escalating further. Finnish President Saul Niinisto said Finland's most significant contribution to Nato's common deterrence and defence would be to defend its own territory.

Finland and Sweden abandoned decades of military nonalignment in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but Turkey and Hungary have refused to ratify ...

As Finland's flag was hoisted at NATO's headquarters in Brussels, officially marking its entry to the military alliance, it was a bittersweet moment for Kyiv. Ukraine has repeatedly stated its desire to be a part of NATO. Membership for the war-torn ...

Before the invasion, back in January 2022, NATO's Stoltenberg told the BBC: "We have no plans to deploy NATO combat troops to Ukraine ... This was despite several decades of see-sawing between aspirations to join NATO and veering away from it — largely depending on the pro-Russian or pro-Western leanings of Ukraine's leaders at the time. Analysts agree Russia's military power and weaponry, despite its large army, pales in comparison with the advance military hardware and highly trained troops of NATO members, let alone the power this represents when those forces are combined. NATO has proved itself a friend and ally of Ukraine over the past year but for now, Kyiv remains outside the alliance, looking in. If that tenet, enshrined in Article 5, is invoked then all members are bound to come to the defense of that member country. The Kremlin warned Tuesday it would take "countermeasures to ensure our own security both tactically and strategically."

A historian looks at the steps leading up to Finland joining the Western strategic alliance – and what that means for small nations elsewhere.

Even Finland has abandoned it; neutral Sweden is now anxious to join the Western alliance; and other states, even Switzerland, are questioning the efficacy of nonalignment in a polarized world. [swung between a pro-Russian orientation](https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-follows-decades-of-warnings-that-nato-expansion-into-eastern-europe-could-provoke-russia-177999) favored in eastern Ukraine, and a more Ukrainian nationalist identity powerfully evident in western Ukraine. [rules-based order](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/what-does-rules-based-order-mean)” that the United States and its NATO allies have touted as the best way to run the world is changing – attracting some, yet more suspicious in the eyes of [nations not privy](https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-united-states-china-and-the-new-non-aligned-countries/) to club membership. And the European Union offered Ukraine closer economic and political ties, stirring up fears in Moscow that this was the first step toward NATO. And federalism, which would have required that some decision-making be handed to regional governments, was considered suspect as a viable form of statehood by many in Ukraine and Russia alike. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, decision-makers in Helsinki have seemingly driven the final nails into the coffin of Finlandization. For centuries it has had to consider its own interests in conjunction with – and in accommodation of – those of its gigantic neighbor: czarist Russia, then the Soviet Union and today Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Similarly, even before the invasion last year, Russia was a problem for Ukraine, with authorities in Kyiv fearing dominance from the East. The price for maintaining its democratic state and capitalist economy in domestic affairs during the Cold War was Finlandization. It underscores just how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has [upset global realities](https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-has-exposed-the-folly-and-unintended-consequences-of-armed-missionaries-197609) long thought settled, at least by the Western powers. and the West over global affairs and seek a system in which [power is distributed regionally](https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-has-exposed-the-folly-and-unintended-consequences-of-armed-missionaries-197609), with Moscow and Beijing holding sway over what they they see as their parts of the world. In the world of geopolitics, great powers make, break and play by their own rules.

Finland has joined the NATO military alliance, dealing a major blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The era of nonalignment in our history has come to an end -– a new era begins,” President Sauli Niinistö said before his country’s blue-and-white flag was raised outside NATO headquarters. The Nordic country’s membership doubles Russia’s border with the world’s biggest security alliance. Watch the full event in the player above.

NATO foreign ministers wrapped up two days of discussions in Brussels on Wednesday (5 April 2023) with a meeting with Indo-Pacific partners – Australia, ...

“We agreed to start work on developing a strategic multi-year assistance programme for Ukraine – a clear demonstration that our support will continue for the long-haul,” he said. Earlier, Allied foreign ministers addressed threats and challenges in the Middle East and North Africa, including instability, terrorism and the growing activities of Russia and China. “We discussed the global consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

It would be 'historic mistake with profound implications' if China provided lethal aid to Russia, says Jens Stoltenberg - Anadolu Agency.

[Anadolu Agency website contains only a portion of the news stories offered to subscribers in the AA News Broadcasting System (HAS), and in summarized form. Stoltenberg said he invited the heads of state and government of the Asia-Pacific region to participate at the NATO leaders’ summit in July in Vilnius, Lithuania. Speaking at a news conference after a two-day meeting of NATO foreign affairs ministers, Stoltenberg said “any provision of lethal aid by China to Russia would be a historic mistake with profound implications.”

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday China was sustaining Russia's economy in the face of Western sanctions over the Ukraine war, as the alliance.

“China refuses to condemn Russia’s aggression. It echoes Russian propaganda. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday China was sustaining Russia’s economy in the face of Western sanctions over the Ukraine war, as the alliance frets over closer Beijing-Moscow ties.

For Finland, formally joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the world's largest military alliance, which states that an attack on one member is an ...

Yet it has nearly doubled the number of its members over the past more than 30 years to serve the hegemonic objectives of the United States. Finland, a relatively small Nordic country of 5.5 million people, clearly feels it needs shoulders to lean on as the situation in Europe has become increasingly volatile and uncertain. This obviously does not augur well for the security of Finland as well as Europe at large. The argument that it is solely a defensive alliance and it is not a threat to any country was already disproved by its military interventions in Serbia in 1999, Afghanistan in 2001 and Libya in 2011. Yet whether its accession to NATO actually makes Finland more secure is questionable. As a product of the Cold War, NATO should have been consigned to history books with the end of the Cold War and the disbandment of the Warsaw Pact.

(The deposit of Finland's Instruments of Accession to the North Atlantic Treaty took place.) SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you very much. Well, with receipt of this ...

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you, Pekka. Thank you very much. Thank you, Secretary Blinken. FOREIGN MINISTER HAAVISTO: Thank you, Mr. SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG: Thanks so much. This is great news, Secretary Blinken.

Speaking to POLITICO, James Cleverly acknowledged NATO's pledge to admit Ukraine, but said the current priority should be on the war.

A number of allies on the eastern flank, however, want to bring Ukraine closer to the alliance now — an attempt to publicly signal that Ukraine will definitely join the alliance once hostilities end. “Obviously, there is long-standing commitments to providing Ukraine with a path to NATO membership,” he said following a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels. In an interview with POLITICO, Cleverly acknowledged NATO’s commitment — made during a 2008 summit in Bucharest — that Ukraine will ultimately join the alliance. The question was also top of mind as foreign ministers met in Brussels this week. The U.K. Capitals such as London and Washington want a strong focus on immediate, practical assistance to Kyiv and to leave bigger political questions for later.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted that Allies will develop a multi-year initiative to help ensure Ukraine's deterrence and defence, make the transition ...

In terms of practical nature, it is about solutions that will be helpful in the functioning of mutual relations between Ukraine and NATO.”: Polish FM.

NATO to launch multi-year support to assist modernization of Ukrainian army, Stoltenberg announces - Anadolu Agency.

Finland became NATO's newest member today (4 April 2023), upon depositing its instrument of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty with the United States at ...

Josef Joffe argues that the Alliance was never as sclerotic as even many Western leaders presumed in recent years.

This week marks the 74th anniversary of the founding of NATO. In this talk, Lotta Angantyr explains the real role and history of this tool of Western ...

Russia's border with NATO now runs from the High North to the Black Sea, which will lock in tensions for years to come, says international relations ...

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand Nanaia ...

Brussels – Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Wednesday he welcomes the increased involvement of NATO member states in the Indo-Pacific region, ...

What happens in Indo-Pacific matters for Europe and vice versa, says Jens Stoltenberg - Anadolu Agency.

The head of Luftwaffe arrived in U.S. to strengthen cooperation with the U.S. Air National Guard and its F-35s before a massive NATO exercise.