INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Finland and Sweden took a major step towards joining NATO on Wednesday, after their prime ministers said Russia&s invasion of Ukraine had
changed Europe&s &whole security landscape& and &dramatically shaped mindsets& in the Nordic countries.The Finnish prime minister, Sanna
Marin, said on Wednesday that her country, which shares a 1,300km border with Russia, would decide whether to apply to join the alliance
&quite fast, in weeks not months&, the UK&s Guardian reported.Russia has repeatedly warned both countries against joining NATO and would see
any such move as a provocation
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has said that if Finland and Sweden entered NATO, Russia would have to &rebalance the situation&
with its own measures.Speaking at a joint press conference in Stockholm, with her Swedish counterpart, Magdalena Andersson, Marin said
Finland had to be &prepared for all kinds of actions from Russia& and that &everything had changed& when Moscow attacked Ukraine, the
Guardian reported.Both countries are officially non-aligned militarily, but became NATO partners & taking part in exercises and exchanging
intelligence & after abandoning their previous stance of strict neutrality when they joined the EU in 1995 after the end of the cold
war.Finland declared independence in 1917 after more than a century of Russian rule, and its heavily outnumbered army twice fought off
Soviet forces during the second world war before ceding some border territory
Sweden has not fought a war for 200 years.Many commentators expect the two Nordic nations to act in tandem on whether to join, although
Finland & widely seen as likely to apply before a NATO summit in Madrid scheduled for June & looks closer than Sweden.A Swedish security
policy review is expected to be completed before the end of May and Andersson has said she will await its outcome before making any
However, a positive Finnish decision would put pressure on Sweden to follow suit.Both countries have received public assurances from the
NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, that their applications would be welcome, as well as expressions of support from members including
the US, UK, Germany and France
Any membership application must be accepted by all 30 Nato states, which could take four months to a year.The post Sweden and Finland take
major step towards joining NATO first appeared on Ariana News.
