On Monday the Finnish outlet Iltalehti reported that the Finnish government is prepared to join NATO on their own. This is a change from what was reported by Atlas last week. Sweden and Finland originally intended on joining NATO at the same time, but that aspiration was quickly met with resistance by Turkey due to their concern that Finland and Sweden aid the PKK. Since then Finnish leadership has gone back and forth on whether or not they would seek NATO ascension without their Nordic neighbor. But Finnish leadership now views NATO ascension as something that should be prioritized. A source told Iltalehti, “We are Russia’s border neighbor. Sweden’s geopolitical position is quite different from ours.” It’s unclear if Finland will be granted NATO membership but this is a large step in that direction.
