The Latest Breaking News from Finland

Finland and Sweden will be able to join NATO quickly should they decide to ask for membership in the Western military alliance, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.

Rather like children in playgrounds, countries throughout history have had to decide how to deal with a bully. Appease him in the hope that he becomes meek? Avoid provoking him, at the cost of acquiescing to his brutality? Or counter with strength and willpower to stop and contain him?

Finland and Sweden will together express their wish to join NATO in May, tabloid newspapers Iltalehti in Finland and Expressen in Sweden reported on Monday, citing sources close to the matter.

Two countries could apply for membership simultaneously as soon as mid-May, according to reports

Three NATO warships arrived in the southwestern Finnish port of of Turku on Monday to train with Finland's navy as Helsinki considers the possibility of joining the U.S.-led alliance amid increased tensions with Russia over Ukraine.

Would you want to live in a so-called buffer state, a nation sandwiched between the competing interests of rival superpowers? Cynical enthusiasts of international relations realpolitik take the view that such buffer states — Ukraine included — are a necessary evil, the peacetime equivalent of no man’s land designed to…

Amid Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine, nations have started re-evaluating their security policies. Sweden and Finland, for example, are clamouring to join NATO in the face of Russian aggression.

A seismic shift has taken place in Finland since the invasion of Ukraine, which could lead to it possibly joining NATO. It would deliver a significant blow to the Russian President by potentially bringing the West right to his doorstep.

Canada would support including Sweden and Finland in the NATO military alliance, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine has prompted both countries to consider joining.