MADRID – Russian President Vladimir Putin predicted the war would sever the military alliance between the United States and its NATO partners in the days before he unleashed Russia's guns on Ukraine.Instead, a strengthening of the relationship is imminent.
Two historically neutral nations, Finland and Sweden, are attempting to join NATO out of fear for their own security following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.By joining, the map would be altered, possibly putting NATO troops on the Finnish-Russian border. The last barrier was removed on Tuesday when Turkey dropped its opposition to their membership, despite the fact that formal approval of their applications is still pending.
Analysts claim that the decision by the two Nordic nations to join the largest military alliance in the world is a significant strategic win for the West and a catastrophic setback for Putin.
He has been defeated. Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit think tank that focuses on foreign affairs and international relations, described it as "a kick in the gut."
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Shortly after President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders arrived in Spain for a three-day meeting that may set the direction of the alliance for years, there was a breakthrough in the high-level diplomatic negotiations involving Finland, Sweden, and Turkey.
The alliance's influence will significantly increase with the addition of Finland and Sweden.
Finland and Russia are separated by an 830-mile border, which enables NATO to bolster its eastern flank. The Baltic Sea, a sizable body of water that borders nine nations, including Estonia and Russia to the east and Denmark and Germany to the west, also borders both countries' coastlines. The Baltic Sea will effectively come under the military alliance's control once Finland and Sweden formally join NATO.
According to Rose Gottemoeller, a former deputy secretary general of NATO, "Finland and Sweden joining NATO changes the Baltic Sea into a NATO lake, where the Russian fleet will be operating on NATO terms." It will be bordered on all sides by NATO nations.
On Monday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance's allies would decide to boost the quick reaction force's size from 40,000 to 300,000 soldiers at the summit. The troops will have home countries as their bases, but they will be stationed in particular states along NATO's eastern border where the organization intends to stockpile supplies of weapons and ammunition.
As a result, it improves NATO's capacity to observe events in the Baltic and conduct operations there, according to Kupchan.
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Several times, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan objected to Finland and Sweden joining NATO. He pressed for them to relax a ban on arms supplies to Turkey, asked they renounce their backing for a Kurdish militant group in Syria, and requested they extradite individuals whom Ankara suspected of terrorist involvement.
Turkey has been pressuring the United States to sell it F-16 fighter fighters. However, a senior administration official who briefed journalists under the condition of anonymity said that the United States made no concessions to Turkey in exchange for the agreement and that Turkey's demands of the United States were not discussed during the negotiations.
The official stated, "This is an arrangement that is only between the three nations of Turkey, Finland, and Sweden."According to the person, Biden called Erdogan earlier on Tuesday at the request of the leaders of Finland and Sweden. The two are scheduled to meet in Madrid on Wednesday.
The official stated that although the U.S. played no official role in the negotiations, officials of Finland and Sweden informed Biden of the compromise they had reached with Turkey before formally finalizing the pact.
Biden approved of the agreement.
He made a statement that read, "Finland and Sweden are robust democracies with highly powerful militaries." "Their inclusion will enhance NATO's overall collective security and benefit the Transatlantic Alliance as a whole."
The formal approval of Finland's and Sweden's membership applications still has to come from all 30 NATO members. Although the approval procedure can take up to a year and a half, NATO officials are aiming to expedite it and finish it in six months.
The U.S. Senate, which must accept treaty modifications, strongly supports the NATO membership of the Nordic countries.
Finland and Sweden must join NATO as soon as possible, said Idaho Senator Jim Risch, the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in an interview with USA TODAY on Monday.
They'll be a fantastic addition, he declared. "As you can see from the map, they will blend in perfectly with NATO. Additionally, they have a strong economy given what they bring to the table. They have effective military institutions. Their military industry are robust. Not the least of which, of course, is their geographic location, they bring to the table.
"Therefore, completion of this is crucial. It's not a good idea, but it must be completed right away.
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