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Finland is expected join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) on Apr. 4, having cleared all remaining hurdles, less than a year after first applying for membership.

Quick application

Finland was one of the few non-Soviet European states to refuse to join NATO throughout the Cold War, and after the fall of the USSR continued to maintain its neutrality.

This was also true for its neighbour to the west, Sweden, although fellow Nordic state Norway joined NATO during the Cold War.

This changed after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, as the both Sweden and Finland felt sufficiently alarmed by what it saw as an unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine by Russia to put aside over 70 years of neutrality.

Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO at the same time, in May 2022.

They have both faced opposition from a few members of the alliance, namely from Turkey and Hungary.

Membership opposition

Turkey's opposition was centred around its opposition to Finnish and Swedish purportedly supporting what Turkey considers terrorist groups.

Sweden has provided asylum to over a hundred individuals that Turkey considers terrorists from the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) party, as explained by Reuters.

However, at a meeting in June 2022, Reuters also reported that Turkey's opposition is in the details, not the spirit, and is open to allowing Sweden to join should their differences be reconciled.

Turkey is also going through a presidential election, and current president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used anti-Swedish sentiment to stir up nationalist support.

Finland and Sweden disconnected their bids, allowing Finland to move ahead of Sweden, with Turkey's parliament recently voting to agree to admit the country to NATO.

Brain-death

Finland joining NATO provides a significant quandary for Russia, doubling its border with NATO countries, not to mention the fact that it adds another well drilled modern army to NATO, as reported by the Associated Press.

But if Russia's stated worry was the threat of NATO, it has scored a tremendous own goal.

There were grave doubts about NATO's future prior to the Russian invasion, with NATO members themselves questioning the alliances' future.

French President Emmanuel Macron even said in a 2019 interview with the Economist that NATO was becoming "brain-dead".

These doubts have been seemingly washed away as NATO nations have been once again been given purpose in helping Ukraine resist invasion.

It has even given the EU, usually a bureaucratic and economic entity, a security element, with the EU also rallying to support Ukraine.

According to an Op Ed in Foreign Policy magazine, support for the EU within member states has gone from 50 per cent in 2010 to 72 per cent at present.

Russia's invasion is only one part of this, but the author attributed the rise in support to growing geopolitical turbulence, of which Russia's invasion is a very visible reminder.

Blame

Russia has attempted to deflect attention from this, with the Russian embassy in Finland claiming that there has been no opportunity for either Finnish or Swedish citizens to voice opposition.

However, polling in both countries have seen steady growth in support for NATO membership.

Finland in particular went from under 40% support in January of 2022 to its current rate of 80% according to the BBC.

It also held a general election on Apr. 2, where party of Sanna Marin, the prime minister, was soundly beaten into third place, according to AP.

However, the parties that have won the election, notably further to the right of the political spectrum, have been unequivocal about support for NATO membership and support for Ukraine against Russia.

Russia has also played down Swedish support, with its own embassy in Sweden claiming that "Russophobia has been embedded in the minds" of Swedish citizens for "decades", due to Sweden's past ambitions of European empire, now centuries past.

It accused Sweden of being NATO aligned long before Russia's "special operation" as it calls the invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia' deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko said, according to Reuters, that Russia will strengthen its military capacity near the Finnish border.

"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."

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Top image via Nato/Facebook