Finland’s NATO accession proves ‘exact opposite’ of Putin’s plans: NATO chief

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) – Resulting in the opposite of Moscow’s plans, NATO’s border with Russia will be doubled after Finland’s accession to the Alliance, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday.

Stoltenberg spoke at a joint news conference with Finnish Foteign Minister Pekka Haavisto and Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen before their meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

All three leaders welcomed the announcement by Türkiye to move forward on the ratification of Finnish membership of the alliance.

They also hailed a similar announcement from the Hungary.

Stoltenberg explained that Russian President Vladimir Putin has achieved “exactly the opposite” of what he had aimed for with war with Ukraine.

“There will be more NATO in Europe, demonstrated by the fact that both Finland and Sweden applied and are invited to become full members,” he asserted.

“When Finland joins, NATO's border with Russia will more than double,” he underlined, adding that the border between NATO and Russia will be extended by 1300 kilometers.

​​​​​​​Türkiye on Friday said it is moving to approve the process of Finland's NATO membership protocol in its parliament.

After decades of military non-alignment, Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO last May because of Russia’s war in Ukraine.However, Türkiye, a longstanding NATO member, asked the two Nordic states to take concrete action against terror groups.In June, Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum with Türkiye to address Ankara’s security concerns, and senior diplomats and officials from the three countries have held various meetings since then to discuss the implementation of the trilateral agreement.