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Finland has officially joined Nato, doubling the military alliance’s border with Russia and dealing a significant blow to president Vladimir Putin.
Finland’s membership became official when its foreign minister handed over documents completing its accession process to US secretary of state Antony Blinken, whose department is the repository of Nato membership texts.
Russia has warned that it would be forced to take “retaliatory measures” to address what it called security threats created by Finland’s membership, and that it will bolster forces near Finland if Nato sends any additional troops or equipment to what will be its 31st member country.
It comes as a former presidential protection officer who has defected from Russia claimed that Mr Putin is “pathologically afraid for his life” and has spent the last few years living in an “information cocoon”.
In an incendiary interview with Dossier, Gleb Karakulov, 35, said Mr Putin had “lost touch with the world” having lived in an “an information cocoon for the past couple of years, spending most of his time in his residences, which the media very fittingly call bunkers.”
Breaking: Finland joins Nato
Finland has officially joined Nato, doubling the military alliance’s border with Russia and dealing a significant blow to president Vladimir Putin.
Finland’s membership became official when its foreign minister handed over documents completing its accession process to US secretary of state Antony Blinken.
The US State Department is the repository of Nato texts concerning membership.
Russia has warned that it would be forced to take “retaliatory measures” to address what it called security threats created by Finland’s membership, and that it will bolster forces near Finland if Nato sends any additional troops or equipment to what will be its 31st member country.
Analysis | Putin will be angry Finland has joined Nato – but he only has himself to blame
Jamie Shea writes:
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin will not be happy with Finland becoming the 31st member of Nato. The date is significant – 4 April – which marks the anniversary of the signing of the Nato treaty 74 years ago.
Yet Putin has only himself to blame for this most significant enlargement of the Western alliance in some time.
Before Putin invaded Ukraine last year, barely 30 per cent of Finns wanted their country to join Nato. Finland was largely comfortable with the dense network of security partnerships that it had devised since the end of the Cold War: close cooperation with Nato, participation in the EU’s common security and defence policy and military integration with its neighbour, Sweden, and the other Nordic partners.
Yet overnight public support for joining Nato shot up to around 80 per cent, and has stayed there ever since. Nato membership did not feature as an issue in last weekend’s Finnish elections despite the broad spectrum of parties participating. So, what has changed? Essentially two things.
Read the full analysis here:
Suspect in killing of Russian war blogger charged with terrorism
Russian investigators have charged 26-year-old Darya Trepova with terrorist offences over the killing of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a bomb blast in St Petersburg, and remanded her in pre-trial detention.
Tatarsky, a cheerleader for Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was killed on Sunday in a cafe where he was due to talk.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had charged Ms Trepova with committing “a terrorist act by an organised group that caused intentional death”. The charges carry a maximum jail term of 20 years. It claimed she had acted under instructions from people working on behalf of Ukraine.
Russia’s health ministry said 40 other people had been injured in the blast, and 25 were still in hospital on Tuesday morning.
Ms Trepova was transferred from St Petersburg to Moscow, where the Basmanny district court remanded her in custody on Tuesday until 2 June, Russian news agencies reported.
Subject of ICC arrest warrant denies claims she unlawfully deported children to Russia
Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights has rejected International Criminal Court (ICC) allegations that she is responsible for unlawfully deporting children from Ukraine.
The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and children’s commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the war crime of hundreds of children allegedly being taken from orphanages and children’s care homes in areas of Ukraine claimed by Russia. Some children, the ICC said, had been given up for adoption in Russia.
But Ms Lvova-Belova told reporters on Tuesday that her commission had acted on humanitarian grounds to protect children in a militarised area, and had not moved anyone against their will or that of their parents or legal guardians, whose consent was always sought unless they were missing.
Children were not given up for adoption but were placed with temporary legal guardians in foster homes, she insisted.
“As far as the ICC’s accusations are concerned, we don’t understand what we are accused of. Give us the facts and we will look into it. So far, it all looks like a farce without specifics and is incomprehensible,” she said.
The ICC had not submitted any documents to her office, Ms Lvova-Belova said, noting that Russia did not recognise the court’s jurisdiction anyway. Ukraine has not sent any official requests regarding children allegedly separated from their parents, she claimed.
UN council extends Ukraine inquiry into crimes since Russia's invasion
The United Nations Human Rights Council has overwhelmingly voted in favour of extending the mandate of an investigative body probing possible war crimes committed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Twenty-eight countries voted in favour of extending the mandate of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine by a year. Seventeen abstained and two voted against the body, which Ukraine says is essential for keeping Russia accountable for its crimes.
“The scope and brutality of Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine are simply beyond any human comprehension,” Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Yevheniia Filipenko, told the Council ahead of the vote.
“We strongly believe that the continued work of the Commission in further investigating, documenting and reporting human rights violations and international crimes committed against the people in Ukraine could save more innocent lives (and) could contribute to accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims.”
In a report published last month, the commission found that some crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, including the use of torture and attacks against the country’s energy infrastructure, could constitute crimes against humanity.
Watch: Finland joins Nato
Biden urges Turkey and Hungary to approve Sweden’s Nato bid ‘without delay’
Joe Biden has welcomed Finland’s accession to Nato, and urged Turkey and Hungary to conclude their ratification processes for Sweden to join the military alliance “without delay”.
“I look forward to welcoming Sweden as a Nato member as soon as possible,” the US president said in a statement.
Finland joining Nato is ‘direct result of Putin’s aggression’, says UK
Finland’s accession to Nato is a “direct result” of Vladimir Putin’s aggression and demonstrates the strength of the alliance, Britain’s foreign secretary has said.
Mr Cleverly, who was at Nato’s headquarters, said: “Today we see, as a direct result of Vladimir Putin’s aggression and his illegal invasion of Ukraine, the day where a new ally joins our defensive alliance.”
He added: “Russia thought its aggression would divide us. Instead, we are bound tighter together, resolute in our defence of the principles of freedom and the rule of law. Let us be clear that our door remains open. We will welcome further allies with open arms and we continue to push for Sweden’s swift accession.”
Calling it “a historic day”, prime minister Rishi Sunak said Finnish membership “made our alliance stronger and every one of us safer”, adding: “All Nato members now need to take the steps necessary to admit Sweden too, so we can stand together as one alliance to defend freedom in Europe and across the world.”
Defence secretary Ben Wallace said the tectonic shift should “be a lesson to President Putin”, adding: “Finland chose to join, based on their own free will. The freedom to choose their alliances as a sovereign state is a matter for their citizens and their citizens alone.”
West should not ‘provoke Moscow’ as tactical nuclear weapons to move to Belarus, says Russian official
The West should acknowledge realities after Russia’s decision to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and not “provoke Moscow”, deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov has said.
The senior Russian official claimed on Tuesday that Russia had gained new opportunities to guarantee its security after suspending its participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty, the TASS news agency reported.
Lukashenko to join Putin in Moscow for two-day talks
Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko will travel to Moscow on Wednesday for two days of talks with Vladimir Putin, according to the Kremlin.
Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that Moscow was boosting Belarus’s nuclear capabilities in response to Finland joining Nato.
Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov that the two presidents would discuss Mr Lukashenko’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine at an upcoming face-to-face meeting.
In an anouncement on Tuesday, the Kremlin said the pair would discuss “topical bilateral and international issues” on Wednesday, before a meeting on Thursday of the Supreme Council of the Union State.
Russia and Belarus are formally part of a Union State, a borderless union and alliance between the two ex-Soviet countries, though long-standing plans for closer integration of their economies have repeatedly stalled.
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2023-04-04 18:14:35Z
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