Finland has spoken out in favor of joining NATO. Finland is giving up its non-aligned status after more than 80 years.
(Photo: dpa)
The word “historic” is no doubt being used in an inflationary manner. Finland’s official wish to join NATO, however, deserves this attribute.
Because it is a turning point in two respects: After more than 80 years, Finland is giving up its freedom of alliance and wants to join the North Atlantic defense alliance.
Russia’s illegal attack on Ukraine has led to a radical change. The role of mediator between East and West is passé. Now Helsinki clearly sees itself as part of the West.
Russia has already attacked several countries in its neighborhood in the past. Finland, with its 1,300-kilometer border with its oversized neighbor, also sees itself threatened after the attack on Ukraine.
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Putin’s Russia experienced the second caesura. His goal of reestablishing a great Russian empire while dividing the West has failed.
It is true that he is waging a war of annihilation in Ukraine. But the rapid march through and the takeover of power that Moscow had envisioned failed.
>>Read here: All current developments around the Ukraine war in the live blog
At the same time, Europe has moved together against the aggressor. Another NATO enlargement was exactly what Putin wanted to prevent.
With his violence, he has achieved the opposite: With Finland’s accession to NATO, the NATO-Russia border has doubled to 2,600 kilometers. And if Sweden presumably also submits a NATO membership application in the coming days, Russia’s aggressiveness has led to a unity in Europe that has rarely been seen before.
It must hurt terribly in the Kremlin that the attempted split and the terrible violence in Ukraine have driven two countries with a long tradition of non-alignment straight into the arms of NATO. Unfortunately, it cannot be assumed that Putin will learn from this.
More: The NATO military alliance simply explained