Norway on Saturday backed Finnish and Swedish plans to join NATO, defying criticism from Turkey.
“We don’t know what it means for Turkey, but from a Norwegian perspective, we are 100% with Finland and Sweden if they decide to apply for NATO membership,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeld said upon arriving for a meeting with their NATO counterparts in Berlin.
“It will also strengthen Nordic cooperation because we chose differently after WWII, so I think this is a historic moment now,” he added.
Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra echoed the minister’s remarks, saying it was important for all NATO members to show unity.
As the war in Ukraine approaches 80 days, Russian behavior can be explained by concern that NATO is getting dangerously close to Moscow over the years.
In the first decades of the military alliance, the member countries of NATO were concentrated further west of Europe, away from Russia. From 1991, with the end of the Cold War, what is seen is NATO gaining new members, including countries that were part of the former Soviet Union. And that “safety” distance is formed only by Ukraine and Belarus.
Now, Sweden and Finland are talking about the possibility of joining NATO. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also influenced the opinion of the Finns. A poll showed that 76% are in favor of joining NATO. Before, it was just 25%.
Source: CNN Brasil
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