The induction of Finland, which has long been neutral in Moscow’s prolonged conflict with the West, into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation this week, is a major setback to Russia and President Vladimir Putin. One of the many justifications the Russian leader offered for the aggression against Ukraine was the relentless expansion of NATO closer to Moscow’s borders since the late 1990s. Rather than rolling back NATO, Moscow’s war has lengthened the Central European queue for membership at its door. Soon after the Russian invasion, Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership. By becoming NATO’s 31st member, Finland has doubled its frontier with Russia by adding more than 1,300 km to the line of contact.
Finland’s neutrality in favour of the Soviet Union through the Cold War made “Finlandisation” part of global diplomatic lexicon. It referred to the political deference of a small nation to its larger neighbour. Sweden has long been part of neutral and non-aligned forums in the UN and has been a major partner for India in multilateral diplomacy. Most of the small European countries on the western frontiers of Moscow have long memories of Russian expansionism. Finland, for example, was part of the Russian empire for a century. Many of its small European neighbours have been at the receiving end of Russia’s muscular regional policies over the last decade. The Ukraine invasion has confirmed their worst fears and they are scrambling for US/NATO protection. Unsurprisingly, Moscow has responded by promising counter measures. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Kremlin, said on Tuesday that NATO’s inclusion of Finland is an “encroachment on our security and on Russia’s national interests”. Moscow would watch for any NATO military deployments in Finland, he said.
