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The White House announced that the US would back the bids of the European countries who choose to join the NATO after Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced that Finland must apply to join the NATO military alliance “without delay”.
The White House said that the United States “would support a NATO application by Finland and/or Sweden should they apply”.
“We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days,” said Niinisto and Marin in a joint statement.
Finland’s announcement was supported among the Finnish public, with nearly three-fourths in favor in a recent poll. Finland’s neighbor Sweden is also considering joining NATO.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said any accession process would be “smooth and swift” and that Finland “would be warmly welcomed”.
Russia’s reaction
Russia reacted strongly to Finland’s plans to apply to join NATO and said it would “be forced” to retaliate if the long-neutral country joined the military alliance.
“Finland joining NATO is a radical change in the country’s foreign policy,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday. “Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other nature, to stop threats to its national security arising.”
Russia said that Finland joining NATO would violate a previous agreement, which it said: “provides for the obligation of the parties not to enter into alliances or participate in coalitions directed against one of them.”
“We will react according to the situation,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry concluded in its statement.
Source - CNBC
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