Finland Ready to Join NATO Without Sweden - Sources

By Staff, Agencies

Although Helsinki has indicated to the outside world that it continues to regard NATO membership as a common cause between Finland and Sweden, behind the scenes, attitudes might be quite different.

Finland is ready to join NATO without Sweden in the event that Turkey and/or Hungary ratify only Finland's NATO application, the nation's media have reported, citing several high-placed sources.

"We have to admit the facts: we are Russia's neighbor. Sweden's geopolitical position is completely different from ours," one of the sources was quoted as saying.

The sources said that the Finnish negotiators had already reached an agreement with Turkey before Christmas, and that the matter is thus in principle settled for Finland. Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has allegedly been informed of this.

According to the sources, only the Left Alliance party opposes Finland's joining NATO without Sweden, whereas the rest are prepared to make the move.

This stands in stark contrast with the official rhetoric: only last week, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin repeated during her visit to Stockholm that Finland intends to complete its NATO journey the way it started - together with Sweden.

However, the Finnish public begged to differ, as a recent survey by pollster Taloustutkimus indicated that 53 percent of respondents were ready for their country to join NATO alone. By contrast, almost half that amount - 28 percent - said Finland should wait for Sweden.

Turkey, however, said it hadn't received signals from Finland about its readiness to join NATO without Sweden, but added it would consider this should such an application emerge.

In May 2022, Sweden and Finland abandoned their time-trusted policy of non-alignment and filed a joint NATO bid as neighbors. However, Sweden’s bid face staunch opposition from Turkey after a series of high-profile scandals and provocations, which included Turkish President Recep Erdogan being hung in effigy and several Quran-burnings in front of the Turkish Embassy.

Last week, Erdogan said Turkey wouldn’t accept Sweden as a NATO member as long as Qurans are allowed to be burnt in the country. Finland, by contrast, prohibits violations of religious peace, and was offered a quick path to the alliance.