Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary-general of NATO, told reporters on Monday: “Tomorrow, we will welcome Finland as the 31st member of NATO, making Finland safer and our alliance stronger.”
The NATO chief hailed this as a “historic” move.
He added: “We will raise the Finnish flag for the first time here at the NATO headquarters. It will be a good day for Finland’s security, for Nordic security, and for NATO as a whole.”
Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö was set to travel to Brussels, Belgium, to take part in the ceremony, his office said.
‘Putin is getting the opposite of what he wanted’: NATO chief
Finland and fellow Nordic country Sweden asked to join NATO in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year, abandoning decades of their military non-alignment, the Reuters news agency reported.
The last obstacle to Finland's accession was removed last week when the Turkish parliament voted to ratify Finland's application, according to news outlets.
Stoltenberg commented on Monday: “President Putin went to war against Ukraine with a declared aim to get less NATO ... He's getting the exact opposite.”
Finland has a 1,300-kilometre border with Russia, which means that NATO's frontier facing Russia will now roughly double in length, Reuters reported.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Monday that Moscow would strengthen its military forces in the western and northwestern regions in response to Finland’s accession to NATO.
Grushko told Russian state Ria news agency: “In the event that the forces and resources of other NATO members are deployed in Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia’s military security,” as quoted by the UK’s The Guardian newspaper.
Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said last year that his country was taking "adequate countermeasures" and would form 12 units and divisions in its western military district, Reuters reported.
Sweden’s NATO bid held up by Turkey, Hungary
Meanwhile, Sweden’s application to join NATO has been held up by Turkey and Hungary, according to Polish state news agency PAP.
Turkey says that Sweden harbours members of what Ankara considers terrorist groups - a charge denied by Stockholm - and has demanded their extradition as a step toward ratifying Swedish membership of NATO, according to Reuters.
For its part, Hungary is citing grievances over Sweden’s criticism of the policies of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Reuters reported.
However, Hungary is expected to approve Sweden's bid if Turkey does so, NATO diplomats have said.
Stoltenberg said on Monday it was “a priority for NATO, for me” to ensure that Sweden joined “as soon as possible.”
He stressed that NATO and Swedish officials were already working to bring Sweden closer to the alliance’s “military and civilian structures” while waiting for the country’s membership to be finalised.
Tuesday is day 405 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Reuters, NATO, The Guardian