Putin ‘Calm And Cool’ After Learning Finland Will Apply To Join NATO, Finnish President Says

Topline

Finland will apply for NATO membership, the country’s leaders confirmed Sunday, ending decades of neutrality in a move Russia has condemned as “wrong”—but Russian President Vladimir Putin seemed to take the news calmly, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Presidental … [+] Palace in Helsinki, Finland on August 21, 2019.

MARKKU ULANDER/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

Niinistö and other officials prepared a report on Finland’s planned application to NATO that Finland intends to submit after running it by parliament.

Finland has remained neutral in conflicts between larger nations since 1948, when it signed a treaty with the Soviet Union prohibiting either country from joining a military alliance against the other.

In a Saturday phone call with Niinistö, Putin warned applying to NATO would be “wrong” because “there are no threats to Finland’s security,” and the move could harm relations between the two countries, the Kremlin said.

Niinistö told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that Putin seemed surprisingly “calm and cool” during the conversation, and Putin did not repeat previous threats of retaliation.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the U.S. will “strongly support” Finland’s bid to join NATO.

What To Watch For

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday he opposes Finland and Sweden joining NATO, citing their support for Kurdish groups. Erdogan’s opposition could stymy Finland’s application, as all 30 existing NATO members need to approve new members. However, a spokesperson for Erdogan told Reuters on Saturday the country is “not closing the door” to either Scandinavian country joining the alliance.

Key Background

Formed in 1949, NATO is an alliance that requires member states to provide military aid if any other member is attacked. Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 bolstered the Ukrainian public’s desire to join NATO. By 2017, 69% of Ukrainians favored joining the alliance, according to a poll by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, a Ukrainian think tank. In the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia demanded that Ukraine be barred from NATO membership, which NATO rejected. However, following the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged Ukraine will not join NATO in the immediate future, even though the alliance promised to eventually admit Ukraine in 2008. The invasion has prompted historically neutral European countries—including Finland and Sweden—to consider applying for NATO membership, which would ensure other NATO members would assist them directly if they were threatened by Russia. Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his country had signed a separate security agreement with Sweden and Finland.

Crucial Quote

“Europe, the world, is more divided,” Niinistö told CNN on Sunday. “There’s not very much room for a non-aligned, in-between [country].”

Tangent

Finland declared independence from Russia—with which it shares a long border—in 1917 in the chaos following Russia’s October Revolution and the ensuing Russian Civil War. In 1939, the Soviet Union launched the short-lived Winter War, during which the Soviet Red Army suffered heavy losses at the hands of the much smaller Finnish military, dealing a blow to Soviet military prestige. In 1941, the Soviet Union invaded Finland again, and Finland began cooperating with Nazi Germany in order to strengthen its defenses. At the conclusion of World War II, Finland ceded and leased large portions of its territory to the Soviet Union, and paid the Soviet Union $300 million in reparations.