[…] The similarities are obvious. A systematic adoption of NATO norms and standards to turn both armies into NATO-compatible forces. A strong reaction in the spring of 2014 to the annexation of Crimea and drawing of identical consequences of the changed strategic situation after the Russian military incursion into the Donbas and attempts to push further and deny Ukraine’s access to its Black Sea coast. This led to increased cooperation with NATO becoming an enhanced opportunity partner in 2014. This was supported by bilateral and trilateral defense cooperation with The United States and Britain.
The most concrete step without doubt was the launching of intensified bilateral Finnish-Swedish defense cooperation. It was given a decisive boost by the Swedish defense minister Peter Hultqvist. It went much further, deeper, and faster than anybody could have anticipated. I remember my surprise at Kultaranta, Presidents Niinistö’s summer residence in June 2016, when Prime Minister Stefan Löfvén talked about “operative planning beyond peace time conditions”. We had embarked on something unparallelled..[…]
Over the years, there was only minority support for NATO Membership both in Finland and Sweden. The current Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited Helsinki in early 2018 as the newly elected Chairman of the Swedish Conservative Party Moderaterna. He was pressed by Finnish pundits about the expected change of Swedish policy towards NATO after the anticipated return of the Conservatives to power in the upcoming parliamentary elections. I was sitting next to him at a lunch at the Swedish residence and innocently queried him “Why hasn’t Carl Bildt expressed himself on NATO Membership?” Kristersson looked at me like fool and replied: “Everybody knows that Carl Bildt presumes that NATO Membership has to be supported by the Social Democrats, too.” I silently smiled because I knew the answer.
That is exactly what happened in both countries in the spring of 2022. It is a historic turn of events that NATO-skeptical or reluctant Social Democratic-led governments in both Finland and Sweden decided to apply for NATO Membership with the backing of the conservative opposition parties. There is a historic parallel to how Finland joined the European Union. The decision to apply for membership was taken by a government led by the EU-skeptical Center Party.[…]
Putin’s shrill demand in December 2021 for security guarantees and a stop to NATO enlargement and even a call to roll back the alliance to the borders of 1997 was pure trolling although not immediately recognized as such. He talked about NATO but meant Ukraine. This was, as we know today, a turning point for Finland. Russia was claiming a sphere of interest, something Finland immediately associated with the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939. Läs artikel