Sweden and Finland have formally submitted their applications to join the Nato military alliance, confirming a radical redrawing of Europe’s security landscape triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, accepted the Nordic neighbours’ membership applications, each in a white folder embossed with their national flag, at the headquarters of the US-led defensive alliance in Brussels.
“I warmly welcome the requests by Finland and Sweden to join Nato. You are our closest partners,” Stoltenberg told the two countries’ ambassadors, hailing the occasion as “a historic step” and “a good day at a critical time for our safety”.
Nato ambassadors are expected to discuss the applications on Wednesday and could give the green light to opening formal talks with the pair on their requests, but Turkey has raised objections that could delay or even derail the process.
All 30 Nato members need to approve the enlargement, which must then be ratified by their parliaments, taking up to a year. The alliance has said it wants to move as fast as possible given the potential Russian threat over Finland and Sweden’s heads.
“The security interests of all allies have to be taken into account and we are determined to work through all issues and reach rapid conclusions,” Stoltenberg said. “All allies agree on the importance of Nato enlargement. We all agree that we must stand together and we all agree that this is an historic moment which we must seize.”
Ankara has said its objections are rooted in what it describes as Sweden and Finland’s support for members of Kurdish militant groups, and their decisions in 2019 to impose arms export embargos on Ankara over Turkey’s military operations in Syria.
Helsinki, Stockholm and the other western allies have said they are optimistic they can overcome Turkey’s objections. Many analysts believe the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who faces elections next year, is seeking concessions for domestic political advantage and unlikely ultimately to veto the applications.
In the hope that speedy ratification by the US would help advance the process, the Swedish defence minister has already headed to Washington and will be followed by the Finnish president, Sauli Niinistö, and Sweden’s prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, who are due to meet US president Joe Biden on Thursday.
If successful, the applications would represent the most significant expansion of Nato in decades, doubling the alliance’s border with Russia which has repeatedly warned it would be forced to respond to “restore balance” after what it called “a serious mistake”.
However, Moscow’s response has so far been relatively muted, with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, describing Finland’s and Sweden’s accession as not a threat in itself. Only the deployment of military infrastructure on their territories would provoke a response, Putin said.
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Andersson and Niinistö told a joint press conference in Stockholm on Tuesday that the Nordic neighbours, which have abandoned decades of military non-alignment since Russia’s onslaught on Ukraine, would go through the accession process “hand in hand”.
The Finnish parliament voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to back the Helsinki government’s proposal to apply for Nato membership, while Andersson confirmed on Monday after a parliamentary debate in Stockholm that Sweden would do likewise.
Finland shares an 810-mile (1,300km) border with Russia and has maintained strict policies of neutrality then non-alignment since the end of the second world war, viewing Nato membership as a provocation of Moscow. Sweden has stayed out of military alliances and has not fought a war for more than 200 years.
However, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February has led to a profound change in both countries’ thinking, with public support for Nato accession in Finland trebling to about 75% and rising to between 50% and 60% in Sweden.