US President Joe Biden confirmed this Tuesday his country’s support for the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO and guaranteed that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was unable to “split” the alliance, but rather to strengthen it and make it “more united than ever”.
“Putin thought he could divide us and instead he got exactly what he didn’t want,” Biden said. in an act held at the White House, in which he signed the documents with the US backing the accession of Finland and Sweden, which the US Senate had endorsed last week.
Biden ironically commented on the fact that the Russian president “would like to federalize NATO, but achieved the ‘Natoization’ of Finland and Sweden”.
The American president also considered that, with the entry into the alliance, Finland and Sweden contract a “sacred” commitment and NATO, in turn, undertakes to defend them.
“To attack one is to attack all, as Article 5 says”, recalled Biden, referring to the collective defense clause of the alliance treaty, and then ensuring that, at this moment, said commitment is “stronger than ever”.
Biden also recalled that the only time in history that this article was invoked was after the attacks of 11 of September 2001 against the USA, stressing that then the allies sided with Washington , something that this country “will never forget”.
For this reason, in the current context of the war in Ukraine, he stressed the commitment to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank and strengthen the defense against “any threat of aggression ” to member countries.
Regarding this objective of strengthening security in Europe, Biden stressed the importance of having two new “highly capable allies in the north”.
As recalled Biden, with the signing of the documents, the US becomes the 23 th NATO country to ratify the entry of Finland and Sweden. They are currently 30 members, who will become 32 with these two new countries.
Biden spoke this morning with the Prime Minister from Sweden, Magdalena Andersson, and the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, to inform them of the ratification and congratulate them on having taken “another step” towards the entry of their countries into the alliance.
As he did earlier in his speech, Biden also highlighted the consensus reached in the US Senate (where there were 95 votes in favor and only one against) to ratify support for the entry of Sweden and Finland.
In his conversations with Andersson and Niinistö, Biden assured that the US will work with Sweden and Finland to remain “vigilant” against any threat to common security and face together “any aggression or threat of aggression”.
