The two countries, the only North not militarily allied, are considering applying to NATO in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as the Finnish operation progresses.
According to the local press, the Finnish government intends to announce its decision to apply for membership in mid-May, despite repeated threats from the Kremlin (the Russian presidency) not to do so.
In Sweden, political parties are still debating in parliament whether to apply for membership and will report on the new security policy on May 13, a month after Finland did the same.
Stockholm and Helsinki have significantly increased bilateral cooperation and contacts in recent weeks in an effort to reach agreement on a common position toward NATO and, eventually, request to join it at the same time.
“No other countries have such strong cooperation with each other outside NATO as Finland and Sweden,” Linde said at a joint press conference with his Finnish counterpart, Pekka Haavisto.
The two ministers agreed to enhance this cooperation if necessary to confront Moscow, which includes planning operations in crisis and conflict situations.
“If our security context becomes more difficult, we can increase this bilateral planning, which includes all sectors of military cooperation,” Haavisto said.
The Finnish minister also added that if his country joined NATO, it would be a “net contributor to security”, as it now has well-prepared armed forces, as well as hundreds of thousands of reserves and modern weapons.
Neither Haavisto nor Linde wanted to clarify whether they had reached an agreement with any NATO member state to give them military support in the event of Russian aggression during the period between the request for accession and the ratification of all allies.
“This is something these countries should announce when they think the time is right,” Haavisto said.
NATO Secretary-General confirmed on Thursday that Sweden and Finland would “welcome with open arms” if they decided to join NATO, and denounced Russia’s “intimidation and threats” to prevent the two countries from joining the organization.
NATO – or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – is an alliance of 30 countries united by a “collective defense” agreement, Article 5 of which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
Joining NATO would place Sweden and Finland under the umbrella of Article 5 which provides a collective guarantee against any external aggression, requiring each country to take the necessary measures, including the use of armed forces, to restore and maintain the security of all allied nations. .
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