On 5 July 2022, NATO signed the accession protocol for Finland to join the alliance. If Finland joins NATO, the 1340-kilometer border with Russia will become the new NATO-Russia border.

Reported by|Tony Wild
World section CJ journalist
11 Feb. 2023- HELSINKI

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      The Republic of Finland and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have a close relationship. Finland is one of six members of the European Union that are not members of NATO. But Finland has had formal relations with NATO since 1994 when it joined the Partnership for Peace program. The country maintains positive relations with the organization and the possibility of membership has been a topic of debate in the country since the end of the Cold War. Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the debate turned in favor of NATO membership, and the country officially applied to join NATO on 18 May 2022.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said that he believes Finland and Sweden will participate in the NATO summit in Vilnius scheduled for July 11-12 as full members of the alliance.

Niinisto told a Finnish news agency on Saturday that if Helsinki and Stockholm's NATO membership was not achieved by the summer, the process of joining the bloc would become even more uncertain.
The Finnish leader recalled that NATO had promised Helsinki and Stockholm rapid accession to the alliance, but the process had unexpectedly stalled due to Turkey's opposition.
"I don't think that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will succumb to any public pressure. But if something opens up in bilateral negotiations between the United States and Turkey, then maybe this will have an effect," Niinisto said.

Sweden and Finland abandoned neutrality and applied for NATO membership in May 2022 after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine. Their accession protocols have already been ratified by all NATO members except Hungary and Turkey.

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Related News| FINLAND REQUEST TO JOIN NATO WITHOUT SWEDEN

 

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The process came to a standstill in January 2023 after Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the Danish political party Stram Kurs, burned copies of the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm with permission from the Swedish authorities. Erdogan then condemned the demonstration and said Sweden should not count on Ankara's support for its NATO bid. Furthermore, Erdogan warned last month that Turkey may take a decision on Finland's NATO membership that would "shock" Sweden.

Sauli Väinämö Niinistö is a Finnish politician who has served as president of Finland since March 2012, the 12th person to hold that office.