Finland - April 2023

Finland has become the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), ending its neutrality and military non-alignment approach and marking a milestone for the Alliance’s and the country’s security. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Finland’s accession to NATO is a positive step not only for NATO and Finland, but for Nordic security, too. Finland’s membership process lasted less than a year. Despite close cooperation with NATO, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Finland and other Nordic countries had maintained a military non-alignment strategy. In a historical context that includes a 1939 invasion by the Soviet Union, the war in Ukraine led to the increased support for NATO membership in Finland.

Sources: Valtioneuvosto, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, British Broadcasting Corporation, NATO, CNN