Finland: NATO membership is the only valid security guarantee for Ukraine

According to RCO News Agency, the return of “Donald Trump” to the White House on January 20 has raised hopes for a diplomatic solution to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, but at the same time there is concern in Kiev that a quick peace is possible. be expensive.

Ukrainian officials, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, have demanded strong security guarantees from their partners that would prevent Russia from rearming for a new attack.

“I think that in the long run, the only valid security guarantee is Article 5 of the Washington Treaty,” said Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen in Kyiv, referring to NATO’s collective defense clause. Basically membership in NATO. And we support Ukraine’s membership in NATO, and I hope that this is not too far in the future.”

Ukraine’s leaders are pushing hard to join the 32-member NATO alliance, but have faced resistance from key members. As the war nears its third year, Ukrainian troops are scrambling to stop Russian advances.

Trump, who has criticized US aid to Ukraine, on Tuesday sympathized with Russia’s position that Ukraine should not be part of NATO. His aides and allies see Ukraine’s membership as an unnecessary provocation against Moscow. He also accused outgoing US President Joe Biden of changing the US position on Ukraine’s NATO membership.

Finland’s foreign minister, whose visit to Kyiv comes a few days after his country’s presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, also said that the Trump administration would not necessarily end Ukraine’s NATO ambitions. “Three years ago, no one thought Finland or Sweden would join NATO,” he said. Now we are here. “You don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Finland, which shares a 1,336-kilometer border with Russia, joined the military alliance in 2023 after the Kremlin launched an all-out attack on its smaller neighbor. Sweden also joined NATO earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Trump, who has long criticized NATO, on Tuesday also asked European members to increase NATO defense spending from 2 percent of their gross domestic product to 5 percent.

In this regard, Elina Valtonen said that Finland had the same procedure until now, and she believes that such rhetoric can harm Europe’s efforts to strengthen collective defense.

“We’re totally aligned with Trump on this because I think we need to do more, we can do more,” he said. “Europe has certainly come a long way over the years and will continue to do so.”

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