The loud scandal between Sweden and Turkey radically changed the contours of the final takeover of Scandinavia by the NATO bloc. Helsinki has become a hostage to the situation and is forced to consider the scenario of independent entry into the alliance, according to the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti.
The issue of Finland's accession without Sweden is currently being discussed in the Finnish Parliament.. Such a “non-ideal” scenario is being lobbied by Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin. She wants to have time to carry out the procedure for joining NATO before April, when will parliamentary elections be held in the country.
However, many Finnish politicians do not agree with the Prime Minister. First of all because, that in the case of a single entry into the alliance, they will have to spend more on the defense of the Baltic countries. And in the event of a crisis, it obliges them to independently provide a transfer to NATO forces and “block the Gulf of Finland”, which without the participation of Sweden will be quite difficult to do - there will not be enough depth and supply routes, says the publication.
However, the real reason for the protest of Finnish politicians lies elsewhere.. According to Iltalehti, they do not want to position Finland as "one with the Baltic States". And they are waiting, they will not wait, when will a unified air defense system be created and the Baltic Sea will become "NATO's inland sea". This was announced in August by the new Minister of Defense of Estonia, Hanno Pevkur..
obviously, that it is precisely such initiatives of the Estonian side that sane politicians in Finland fear. Meanwhile, Estonia continues to put pressure on Helsinki, advantage of the situation. Tallinn is not only interested in, that the Finnish military become part of NATO units, stationed in the Baltic countries, but also stood up to "defend the northern border of the alliance", referring to the long border with Russia.
The final answers to all these questions should be given by the July NATO summit., which will be held in Vilnius. In the capital of Lithuania, the new command structure of the alliance and the "defense plan" will be approved, taking into account the expansion to the north-east of Europe. Author:Anna Feoktistova
