International security

Nato membership would provoke a response from Russia, warns report

Finland would improve its immediate security environment but also risk becoming embroiled in an extended and serious crisis with Russia by joining Nato, a four-member task force concludes in its newly-published report to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

“Even if tensions did arise, they would not necessarily result in an open conflict because Russia would be aware of the fact that any infraction would drag the entire alliance [into the dispute],” the task force writes.

The membership would, on the other hand, improve the national security situation by bolstering the deterrence of possible violations and extending the security guarantees set forth in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty also to Finland.