“Along with our allies and companions, we’re going to put in writing the long run we need to see, and in a second when Putin’s Russia has shattered peace and safety in Europe — when autocrats are difficult the very foundations of a rule-based order — the energy of the transatlantic alliance and America’s dedication to NATO is extra necessary than it’s ever been,” Biden mentioned earlier than signing the protocols within the East Room on Tuesday afternoon.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been staunchly against any NATO growth, calling it an imperialistic menace. However analysts say that the struggle in Ukraine has had the unintended consequence of strengthening the alliance amid fears that Russia may assault different close by nations. Finland shares an 800-mile border with Russia.
“Putin thought he may break us aside when this all began,” Biden mentioned. “As a substitute, he’s getting precisely what he didn’t need.”
Any European nation could be part of NATO so long as it demonstrates that it might meet membership obligations equivalent to navy and financial contributions. That features placing a minimum of 2 p.c of its GDP towards nationwide protection and agreeing to NATO’s collective protection rule, a mechanism that requires members to return to 1 one other’s protection within the occasion of an assault.
Finland and Sweden are slated to turn into NATO’s thirty first and thirty second member states. The latest NATO enlargement got here in March 2020, when North Macedonia joined the group. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Ukraine have additionally acknowledged their curiosity in becoming a member of.
