The expert explained why Finland will not join NATO without Sweden

Flag of Finland. File photoMOSCOW, June 13Joining NATO without Sweden is unacceptable for Finland, since the political elites in these countries are connected and a separate decision by the Alliance could undermine the socio-political situation in them, Dmitry Danilov, head of the European security department at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told RIA Novosti, noting that NATO itself is interested in joining new members «in tandem». Earlier it became known that Finnish President Sauli Niiniste ruled out the country's entry into NATO without Sweden, stating this during the visit of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who arrived in Finland to discuss its accession to the alliance.A dollar at five rubles: how Russia keeps global inflation out»Finland gives a very clear signal that the option of approving its application at the summit alone while disapproving the Swedish application is unacceptable for Finland. The Finnish position is quite pragmatic, since for many reasons entry without Sweden impossible, it will destroy the socio-political situation in the country and call into question the entire political process in the future,» Danilov told the agency. status and accession to NATO. At the same time, the report noted that “regardless of which path Finland and Sweden choose, they must go as a couple, in tandem.” “That is, either they retain their (neutral – ed.) status, or they make a joint decision on its change. Therefore, in general, this position was outlined quite a long time ago, before the current crisis in Ukraine,» Danilov notes. The expert believes that in the current situation, the rejection of the non-bloc status of both states may carry domestic political risks for the elites of both countries. «Now the main political parties and their leaders, the political elite of the two countries, have to radically change their previous positions, and this, of course, should be justified in the future in terms of the effectiveness of a sharp change in course … And in this sense, it is clear that if one country does not join, then this in itself undermines the motivation of the political class in another country, that is, this justification — the correctness of the decision taken — is immediately called into question, «- with Danilov said.Who is threatened by the emergence of the largest army in Europe? However, according to him, NATO countries are trying to find a compromise, discussing the possibility of joining the Alliance of one Finland. «It is clear that in this case we are talking about the fact that in fact this option is just satisfies Turkey in order to keep the issue in limbo and play this card in relations with allies. In this sense, the situation for Sweden will worsen, the prospects for its entry will probably become even more problematic,» the expert argues. In his opinion, «NATO and its leadership must be persistent and push through the Turkish position, as they promised Finland and Sweden a trouble-free entry into the Alliance.» In addition to political arguments within the countries themselves, their entry into the North Atlantic Alliance also has an extremely important geostrategic factor for NATO itself, Danilov noted. The West did not leave Russia a way out «Strengthening the northern flank of NATO through the entry of Finland and Sweden makes sense just when these countries enter together and it is possible to connect both countries operationally and geographically to NATO's collective defense, to extend appropriate guarantees to them On the other hand, connect them to the collective defense planning system. In this regard, without one of the two states, NATO expansion does not allow fulfilling military-strategic tasks, «he notes. «It is clear that the risks, both internal and external, for Finland if her application is approved without Sweden, they are many times higher than those associated with the entry of a tandem,» the agency's interlocutor concluded. Finland and Sweden, against the background of the events in Ukraine on May 18, handed over to the NATO Secretary General applications for joining the alliance. Turkey has blocked the start of the process of consideration of these applications. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara cannot say «yes» to the membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO, because it cannot believe their assurances about relations with representatives of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, banned in Turkey. Moscow has repeatedly noted that the alliance is aimed at confrontation. As the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov emphasized, further expansion of the bloc will not bring greater security to Europe. At the same time, he does not consider the entry of Sweden and Finland into this organization an existential threat to Russia. Vladimir Putin himself noted that abandoning the traditional policy of Helsinki's military neutrality would be erroneous, since there are no threats to Finland. : the world no longer trusts the West