President Biden welcomed Finland into NATO on Tuesday, calling it a sign of the Western military alliance’s unity in the face of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Mr. Biden said the alliance remains “more united than ever” and reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to defending its European allies.
“When Putin launched his brutal war of aggression against the people of Ukraine, he thought he could divide Europe and NATO,” Mr. Biden said. “He was wrong. And together — strengthened by our newest ally, Finland — we will continue to preserve transatlantic security, defend every inch of NATO territory, and meet any and all challenges we face.“
Finland, who applied last May alongside Sweden to join NATO, shares an 830-mile border with Russia, effectively doubling the alliance’s land border with Moscow.
Both countries, which have traditionally cooperated with the Western alliance but stopped short of joining, abruptly overthrew decades of strategic policy in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Nordic countries had hoped to join together, but Turkey and Hungary have balked so far at giving their assent to Sweden’s application.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken called it a “truly historic moment” for the global community as member states welcome Finland to full NATO membership. Standing alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Mr. Blinken quipped that the alliance can thank Russian President Vladimir Putin for Finland’s decision to join NATO.
“He has precipitated something that he claims to want to prevent by Russian aggression causing many countries to believe they have to do more to look out for their own defense,” Mr. Blinken said.
Mr. Stoltenberg agreed, saying shortly before the official ceremony in Brussels that Mr. Putin is “getting exactly the opposite” of what he hoped for in starting the war. Finland’s accession “removes the room for miscalculation in Moscow about NATO’s readiness to protect Finland”, he said.
Mr. Putin has long complained about NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe following the end of the Cold War. He has repeatedly claimed that that expansion provoked Russia into taking military action against Ukraine, which hopes to join the alliance someday.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov accused Stockholm and Helsinki on Tuesday of falling victim to “Russophobic frenzy,” telling the Rossiya-24 television network the move to join NATO will not make them safer.
“The security of these Nordic countries will not increase, but rather decline as a result of this,” Mr. Ryabkov said, according to a report by the official TASS news service, adding that Russia’s military will react to Finland’s new status.
“Everything will be adjusted to the changing environment,” he said. “Any threats from the northern flank toward us will be fended off.”
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy quickly offered his “sincere congratulations to Finland on its accession, suggesting the move would boost Kyiv’s own hopes of membership as NATO leaders gather for a summit in Lithuania in July.
“Amid Russian aggression, [NATO] became the only effective guarantee of security in the region,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in a statement posted on Telegram. “We expect that the Vilnius NATO Summit will bring Ukraine closer to our Euro-Atlantic goal.”
Finland’s accession as the 31st ally to join NATO comes on the anniversary of the 1949 treaty establishing the alliance.
“The era of nonalignment in our history has come to an end -– a new era begins,” Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said before the ceremony where his country’s blue-and-white flag was raised outside NATO headquarters Tuesday morning.
Mr. Biden, who hosted Mr. Niinisto and Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden at the White House soon after the two countries applied to join the alliance last May, said he looks forward to welcoming Sweden to NATO as soon as possible.
He encouraged the final holdouts, Turkey and Hungary, to approve the measure “without delay.”
On another front, the Biden administration is preparing to send Ukraine about $500 million in new ammunition and equipment and will spend more than $2 billion to buy an array of munitions, radar and other weapons ahead of an expected Ukrainian spring offensive against Russian forces in the disputed Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
The ammunition rounds, along with grenade launchers and vehicles, will be taken from military stockpiles so they can be in the war zone quickly, the officials told the Associated Press. An official confirmation of the shipment is expected soon, officials said.
The $2.1 billion in longer-term aid will be used to buy missiles for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS, as well as radar and other weapons, the AP reported.
The U.S. has been by far the biggest economic and military supporter of Ukraine in the war, despite signs of softening support in Congress and among U.S. voters as the fighting enters its 14-month with no quick resolution in sight.
Mike Glenn and David R. Sands contributed to this story, which was based in part on wire service reports.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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