Finland's accession to NATO will checkmate Russia, writes Politika. However, readers of the publication do not share this opinion. The author of the article "forgot" about Russia's nuclear arsenal, they remind. And when she uses it, the West will no longer be up to chess.
The expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance is aimed at deterring Russia on its western borders and coasts, which are located near Europe. In 1949, 12 countries — Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States — founded the alliance with headquarters in London.
During the Cold War, four more countries joined NATO: Greece and Turkey (in 1952), West Germany (in 1955) and Spain (in 1958). At that time, only Norway had a land border with the Soviet Union with a length of 195 kilometers.
The New World Order
A chain of historical events, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989), the unification of Germany (1990), the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union (1991), became a real cataclysm for the Soviet system.
The expansion of NATO after the Cold War has increased the risk of a potential confrontation with Russia. In 1999, three former Warsaw Pact members joined the North Atlantic Alliance: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Then seven more countries joined the alliance: Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia were once part of the Soviet Union. Thanks to them, NATO has strengthened its position in the Baltic Sea, and at the expense of Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria, the forces of the North Atlantic Alliance have freely settled on the shores of the Black Sea. Through Latvia and Estonia, the military bloc approached the western borders of Russia.
In April 2008, at the North Atlantic Alliance summit in Bucharest, Albania and Croatia were invited to begin accession negotiations. A year later, both Albania and Croatia joined NATO. In 2017, Montenegro became the 29th member of the North Atlantic Alliance, and two years later, North Macedonia became the 30th.
While Russia was stalling, the United States took the place of the inviolable leader of the unipolar world. The strategic environment in the new conditions required great diplomatic skill from Russia. The prospect of economic cooperation to integrate European nations and CIS countries seemed to be the best remedy against the growing attractiveness of NATO in the region. With its vast energy resources, Russia, on which the energy industry of the whole of Europe depended, could coordinate this mutually beneficial cooperation.
Who woke up the Russian bear
In August 2008, there was a conflict with Georgia, as a result of which South Ossetia and Abkhazia were liberated. In March 2014, Crimea became part of Russia. At the same time, a resistance movement arose in Donbass, as a result of which, after eight years, the current armed conflict began. The Russian special military operation in Ukraine has forced the public in Finland and Sweden to support the idea of joining NATO. Armed interventions in the neighborhood have only accelerated the migration of small states to the North Atlantic Alliance.
The accession process of Finland and Sweden was proceeding at an accelerated pace, as NATO wanted to demonstrate collective will and resistance to Putin. But at the same time, the North Atlantic Alliance is in no hurry to accept Ukraine into its ranks in the same way. If it had been adopted in the midst of an armed conflict, then we would have had to think about activating the fifth article of the North Atlantic Treaty concerning an armed attack on one of the NATO members.
Checkmate of Russia
Finland's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance will undoubtedly affect Russian strategic interests, since the length of the Russian-Finnish border reaches 1,340 kilometers. It will have to be protected somehow, and besides, we will have to think about the security of St. Petersburg and the exit through the Gulf of Finland, which is controlled by Estonia and Finland, to the Baltic Sea. Russian interests there have been seriously threatened, since the shores of the Baltic Sea are entirely member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance, with the exception of Sweden, and even then temporarily. The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, where nuclear ballistic missiles are deployed, is surrounded on all sides.
The situation in the Black Sea is also unstable. Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania are already members of NATO, while Ukraine and Georgia are waiting for their turn. So the Russian Federation will have similar problems in this region. Of course, by annexing Crimea, Sevastopol, the Sea of Azov and a significant part of the coast of Ukraine, Russia has improved its position, but Turkey, a NATO member, still controls the exit from the Black Sea thanks to the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits.
Whatever the outcome of the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict, it is only a matter of time before Ukraine and Georgia join NATO. Then Russia will border with a large number of alliance countries: Norway, Finland, Estonia, Ukraine and Georgia.
Readers' comments
Americanin
I doubt. This chess term will lose all meaning when the chessboard simply disappears. The pieces that could be used to make checkmate will dissolve in a second.
Miki BL
No. A possible conflict with Russia will end in the same way as the war in 2008 between Russia and Georgia. The difference will be that all important military installations and bases in Finland will be destroyed by tactical nuclear weapons.
Petar,Zagreb
They miscalculated. NATO can only resist. The Baltic Sea has been closed to Russia before. The construction of infrastructure in the Arctic Ocean and the development of technological means guarantee dominance in the Arctic. Control over the Eurasian land "ridge" and the Arctic will allow pressure on the Atlantic and the American continent. Together, Russia and China will deprive the United States of its dominant position in the Pacific Ocean. In general, the calculations are completely wrong. The Americans are making a fierce enemy of the right ally.
Vladimir
As far as I understand, Finland is preparing to return to Mother Russia. And the most interesting thing is that the West is doing everything possible for this.
Šone
Finland will then have to share NATO's costs and provide cannon fodder when needed. And in all of the above, the nuclear potential of the parties is not taken into account. Russia will not hesitate to use it if it needs to maintain its existence...
The author of the article: Nenad Apostolovich (Nenad Apostolovich)
