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Sweden and Finland have agreed to simultaneously apply for NATO membership, reports the Swedish newspaper Expressen.
Both countries have agreed to announce their application between May 16-22, which coincides with the Finnish president’s visit to Stockholm.
The news comes at a time when three NATO warships have arrived in the Finnish port of Tuku on Monday to train with the Marines there.
“The two-day exercise, scheduled to begin on April 28, will prepare Finnish ships to participate in the NATO Response Force in 2022,” the alliance said in a statement. “Both Finland and Sweden are partners in close to NATO, but so far have stayed away from the possibility of joining the alliance, formed in 1949.
But the Russian occupation of Ukraine has already created a security reality in Europe, and both countries have openly expressed a desire to join the alliance.
If Finland joins NATO, it means that the total land border between NATO territory and Russia would more than double.
Sweden, on the other hand, has no direct border with Russia. But if it too joined NATO, experts say it would facilitate alliance operations in the Baltic Sea, as all countries on the Baltic coast would then be part of the western alliance – with the exception of of Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said NATO enlargement would not bring more stability to Europe, while Dmitry Medvedev, a member of Russia’s Security Council, said that if Finland and Sweden joined NATO, Moscow will be forced to strengthen its defenses in the Baltic by deploying nuclear weapons as well.
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