Washington, DC – Congressman Mike Turner (R-OH) joined 15 of his House colleagues in a bipartisan resolution strongly supporting the applications of Finland and Sweden to NATO. The resolution urges the acceptance of both countries into NATO, emphasizing that their acceptance would boost NATO's deterrence in the fight against Russia and add to NATO's overall military capabilities.
In the resolution, the members wrote:
“We are united in our support of these two critical applications. Finland and Sweden embody the democratic values that NATO was founded upon in the Washington Treaty, and their accession to the Trans-Atlantic Alliance will strengthen regional security. What Vladimir Putin will never understand is that an alliance is born of mutual respect and cooperation not fear and intimidation. NATO will always be stronger because our nations want to stand together.”
Finland and Sweden, which are historically neutral countries, rapidly shifted their defense policy as the Russian Federation wages a cruel and unnecessary war against its neighbor Ukraine. Finland remained neutral during the Cold War despite living under constant threat from the Soviet Union and sharing a roughly 800 mile border with the U.S.S.R. Sweden has remained neutral since at least 1814 despite the many wars on the European continent since then. Rather than deter countries from joining NATO, the Kremlin has done the opposite, driving those into the alliance as a reaction to reckless aggression.
Finland and Sweden formally applied to NATO on May 18th.
A copy of the Resolution, led by Representative Keating, can be found here.