Finland's white flag emblazoned with a blue cross was hoisted at NATO headquarters Tuesday as the Nordic country joined the transatlantic alliance, a move ending decades of neutrality and spurred by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
It was a historic moment that realigned Europe's post-World War II security architecture. It was also bittersweet: U.S. and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials had hoped Sweden would be entering the alliance at the same time. But Stockholm could not overcome objections from member state Turkey, which accuses Sweden of harboring Kurdish militants.
The formal accession of Finland, celebrated during a meeting of foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, is a major setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Before Putin invaded Ukraine just over a year ago, Finland had maintained mostly cordial relations with Russia. But now, NATO doubles its border with Russia, thanks to more than 800 miles of frontier Russia shares with Finland.
Ironically, fear of NATO expansion was one of the motives Putin cited for attacking Ukraine.
"I'm tempted to say this is maybe the one thing we can thank Mr. Putin for," U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said. "Here once again he has precipitated something he claims to want to prevent."
Russia's "aggression," Blinken continued, has caused "many countries to believe that they have to do more to look out for their own defense and to make sure that they could deter possible Russian aggression going forward."
To mark the formal entrance of Finland, Blinken and his Finnish counterpart, Pekka Haavisto, exchanged documents as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg looked on.
"President Putin wanted to slam NATO's door shut," Stoltenberg said. "Today, we show the world that he failed, that aggression and intimidation do not work. Instead of less NATO, he has achieved the opposite: more NATO."
He vowed to continue lobbying Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to allow Swedish membership. Under NATO rules, the decision to admit nations must be unanimous.
Numerous foreign ministers welcomed Finland, but in the same breath expressed the urgent need for Sweden also to become a member.
"I would be more thrilled if we could have welcomed Sweden as well," said Norway's foreign minister, Anniken Huitfeldt.
Russia immediately reacted angrily to what it called an escalation and threatened a response.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov branded Finland's move "another aggravation" and "an encroachment on our security" that "forces us to take countermeasures, tactically and strategically." He did not elaborate, but Russia has said it would move more troops to its western border with Finland. It is not clear, however, whether Russia has troops to spare because most of its battle-ready units have been deployed to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Finland's parliament said that its website was hit with a so-called denial-of-service attack, which made the site hard to use, with many pages not loading and some functions not available, the Associated Press reported from Helsinki. A pro-Russian hacker group known as NoName057 (16) claimed responsibility, saying the attack was retaliation for Finland joining NATO, but the claim could not be immediately verified, AP said.
NATO's key provision is its Article 5, which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all members. It has only been invoked once, when terrorists attacked New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001.
The horror of seeing Russia invade its neighbor, the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, prompted Finland and Sweden to abandon years of nonalignment and apply to join NATO last year. Stoltenberg said Finland's acceptance was the swiftest in modern NATO history.
"War has returned to Europe,'' Stoltenberg said later at the flag-raising ceremony in the sunny, breezy esplanade in front of NATO headquarters.
"Finland now is safer, and NATO is stronger," Stoltenberg said.
NATO emerged from the ruins of World War II exactly 74 years ago Tuesday, a military alliance of 12 founding nations, including the United States under President Truman. Finland became the 31st member.
"The era of military nonalignment in our history has come to an end," Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said at the ceremony, before the Finnish national anthem was played. "A new era begins."
In Washington, President Joe Biden praised the accession of Finland.
"When Putin launched his brutal war of aggression against the people of Ukraine, he thought he could divide Europe and NATO," Biden said in a statement. "He was wrong. Today, we are more united than ever."
That unity has more or less endured through 13 months of ever-deadlier war in Ukraine, despite some fraying around the edges, including voices in the U.S. Republican Party who question the large amount of military aid the Biden administration has shipped to Ukraine.
In addition to Turkey, Hungary has also refused so far to approve Sweden's membership in NATO, but for different reasons. Hungary's far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a close ally of former President Trump, objects to criticism of his illiberal policies to silence dissent and curtail democracy. NATO officials believe, however, that Orban, who has not joined Western allies in supporting Ukraine in the war, will eventually come around.
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