How War in Ukraine Pushed Finland and Sweden Toward NATO

After the Turkish parliament voted last night to approve Finland's application to join NATO, the Nordic country will become the 31st member of the military alliance when it is formally admitted at the next summit taking place in Lithuania in July. Turkey was the only remaining obstacle to Finnish membership, having delayed the process due to its concerns with Finland's alleged support of groups adjudged by Ankara to be terrorists. For similar reasons, Sweden's NATO application is still stalled.

Despite being one of Putin's stated reasons for launching the war against Ukraine, the expansion of NATO towards Russia's borders has only been accelerated by his actions. After all, Finland and Sweden had up to recently firmly adhered to their long-standing policy of military non-alignment.

As our infographic based on polling conducted before and after Russia's invasion, the war in Ukraine has shifted public opinion drastically in both Nordic nations. Shortly before the conflict erupted, only 24 percent of Finns and 37 percent of Swedes supported their countries seeking NATO membership. In July/October 2022 though, a majority of the population now supports joining. A dramatic increase has been observed in Finland especially, where 85 percent said that they view their country's membership application positively.