Russia plans to boost its military capabilities

Finland officially joins NATO today

Finland will become the 31st member of NATO today. AFP

The office of the Finnish president said yesterday that the country will become an official member of NATO today, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also announced that Finland will become today, the 31st member of NATO, while Russia plans to strengthen its military capabilities near Finland after joining NATO.

"We will welcome Finland as the 31st member," Stoltenberg said, adding that the Finnish flag would be hoisted this afternoon at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Stoltenberg said on Friday that Finland would formally join the Western military alliance within days after Turkey's decision to endorse the order. All 30 NATO countries had ratified the accession protocol, he said.

Finland and neighbouring Sweden abandoned decades of military non-alignment and decided to join the alliance in May.

The two countries have announced major military investments since the war began in Ukraine, and NATO considers them a powerful fortress on its northeastern bank.

Their request was accepted at a NATO summit in 2022 but had to be approved by all NATO parliaments, a process that was delayed when it reached Turkey and Hungary.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opposes the Swedish request because of a number of long-standing disagreements.

"Sweden has not taken any positive action regarding the terrorist list," Erdogan said Friday, referring to more than 120 extradition requests made by Ankara.

The burning of a Koran by an extremist in the Swedish capital in January led to the suspension of talks between Ankara, Helsinki and Stockholm.

The Turkish president then hinted that Turkey was ready to ratify Finland's accession separately.

For its part, Russia announced yesterday its intention to strengthen its military capabilities near its border with Finland, after joining NATO, in an expansion that Moscow considers a threat to it.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Gruchko said "we will strengthen our military capabilities in the west and northwest" on the borders with Eastern Europe and Finland.

"If other NATO members deploy troops and capabilities on Finnish territory, we will take additional measures to reliably ensure Russia's military security," he said, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

After the start of Russia's war on Ukraine last year, Finland and Sweden decided to turn the page on the military non-alignment policy in place since the nineties and in May applied to join NATO.

Russia said in March that it posed "no threat" to the two Scandinavian countries.

Russia sees NATO expansion on its borders as a major threat to its security, and Ukraine's ambition to join the alliance was one of the reasons Moscow justified its attack.

Russia's new diplomatic doctrine announced last week refers to the West as an "existential threat" whose "hegemony" Moscow must confront.