Euractive: NATO says it may take years to fully integrate Finland into alliance

MOSCOW, June 1 – RIA Novosti. The newspaper writes that the process of fully integrating Finland into NATO may take years. Euroactive referring to the unnamed representatives of the alliance.

“The whole process will take time,” one of the NATO diplomats told the broadcast.

Another alliance diplomat pointed out that the integration of the country into the alliance, and its interaction in terms of planning and command structure, is a very laborious process.

“For us, this was not achieved overnight, it was achieved for years … It took us years and it will take them years to understand all the details,” the diplomats quoted on the air.

Finland and Sweden applied to the NATO Secretary General to join the alliance against the events in Ukraine in May last year. The consent of all its members is required for admission to the Union. At first, Turkey blocked the application process, but on June 29, Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a security memorandum that took into account all Ankara’s concerns regarding the fight against terrorism and restrictions, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. weapons supply.

Until the beginning of 2023, applications from Sweden and Finland were approved by 28 out of 30 NATO countries, but Hungary and Turkey wanted to consider the Swedish application separately from the Finnish application. On the night of March 31, the approval of Finland’s application to NATO by all members of the alliance was completed. Sweden’s application has not yet received approval from Hungary and Turkey.

Earlier, the Russian embassy in Sweden published an article on its website stating that the total length of Russia-NATO borders will almost double after Sweden and Finland join NATO, this will not improve the security of Europe – new members. The hostile bloc “will become a legitimate target for retaliatory measures from Russia.