Nato will show President Vladimir Putin he gets the opposite of what he wants when he behaves aggressively towards another nation by hastily accepting Finland and Sweden into the military family, the treaty's chief Jens Stoltenberg said.
The two countries have expressed a strong interest in signing up to the 30-member transatlantic treaty since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
Addressing young leaders at the Nato Youth Summit in Brussels on Thursday, Mr Stoltenberg, the alliance’s secretary general, said if Finland and Sweden launched attempts to join, the accession process would be speeded up. This, he suggested, would deal a significant blow to Mr Putin’s efforts to intimidate the alliance by starting a war on its frontier.
“It’s for Finland and Sweden to decide and Nato will respect their decision regardless. That’s exactly the opposite of what Russia does, they try to intimidate and threaten countries to do what Russia wants,” Mr Stoltenberg said.
“If the condition is that they apply, then we will welcome them with open arms.
“I strongly believe the accession process can go very quickly.
“It will demonstrate to President Putin that he gets exactly the opposite of what he wants. He invaded Ukraine because Nato was on his borders and what he gets is more Nato.”
In a tweet posted on Thursday, Mr Stoltenberg said Finnish President Sauli Niinisto had updated him on "deliberations in Finland on potential Nato membership".
Before launching the war in Ukraine, Mr Putin demanded that Nato stop expanding and pull its troops back from Russia’s borders. So the prospect of neighbouring Finland, and Sweden, joining the transatlantic alliance is unlikely to be welcomed in Moscow.
Finland has a conflict-ridden history with Russia with which it shares a 1,340 kilometre border. A recent poll of Finns showed 84 per cent believe Moscow poses a significant military threat.
Sweden has avoided military alliances for more than 200 years, choosing a path of peace after centuries of warfare with its neighbours.
Both countries put an end to traditional neutrality by joining the European Union in 1995 and deepening co-operation with Nato. However, a majority of people in the two countries were firmly against full membership in the alliance – until now.
Finnish and Swedish leaders have yet to announce a final decision on whether they wish to join Nato.
The issue of their potential membership is expected to feature heavily at the Nato summit in Madrid in June.
Since Mr Putin invaded Ukraine, Sweden has stepped up security and remilitarised the island of Gotland, which is key to stability in the Baltic Sea.
About 40,000 troops from Nato countries are stationed across the Baltic states as well as Poland and Romania, which share borders with Ukraine.
Addressing about 100 young adults at the youth summit in Brussels, as well as hundreds more who were watching online, Mr Stoltenberg warned of the dangers of taking peace in the post-Cold War era for granted.
“Young people in Nato-allied countries today have not experienced war,” he said. While he acknowledged this was a positive point he said “it’s also dangerous” because if countries take peace for granted it could easily lead to “mistakes that create the conditions for war”.
The Nato chief said the alliance would continue with its campaign of putting “maximum pressure” on Moscow, which includes sanctions, to deter its ambitions to take over Ukraine.
He also said member states are prepared to continue arming the Ukrainians in the long term in the hope of helping them to oust the invaders.
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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visits Borodyanka, near Kyiv, where Russian forces are accused of killing civilians. AFP -
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Burnt-out wreckage of a tank in Kolychivka village, Chernihiv region, northern Ukraine. EPA -
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Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a meeting of MPs in St Petersburg. EPA -
Youngsters Faddei and Oleksandr play in front of a church damaged during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in the Chernihiv region. Reuters -
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Mr Putin attends a meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Moscow. Reuters -
Members of a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency carry equipment as they arrive at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine. AP -
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Ukrainian refugees Julia, second left, 32, and Miroslava, left, 11, walk away with relatives who received them after they crossed into Poland from Ukraine at the Dorohusk border. AFP -
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meets Mr Guterres in Moscow. AFP -
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark Milley, left, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, second left, and Ukrainian Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov, right, attend the Ukraine Security Consultative Group meeting at Ramstein airbase in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany. Getty Images -
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People take pictures by the wreckage of a Russian military vehicle, in the village of Rusaniv, Kyiv region. Reuters -
Smoke rises above the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant amid fighting in Mariupol, Ukraine. Reuters -
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A Ukrainian soldier looks at a Russian ballistic missile's booster stage that fell in a field in Bohodarove, eastern Ukraine. AFP -
People watch as a residential building burns after Russian bombardment in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. Reuters -
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Easter service at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. EPA -
A young girl in front of people carrying a huge Ukrainian flag during a peaceful demonstration entitled 'Solidarity with Ukraine' in Krakow, Poland. Reuters -
A boy stands next to a wrecked vehicle in front of an apartment damaged during the conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters -
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows damage at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP -
A Ukrainian man rides in front of a destroyed building in Kharkiv which had been shelled by the Russians. EPA -
A Ukrainian Territorial Defence fighter in a shelter with an Easter Cake near Kharkiv. Ukrainians mark Orthodox Easter today. EPA -
Residents receive Easter cakes and apples handed out by pro-Russian troops on Easter Day at the Svyato-Troitsky Church in the southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters -
A woman photographs the scene of yesterday's shelling in the southern Ukraine city of Odesa. Eight people were killed, including a three-month child, and about 20 were wounded. EPA -
A military chaplain blesses Ukrainian soldiers on the occasion of Orthodox Easter not far from the city of Izyum in Kharkiv. EPA -
An internally displaced man walks with dogs in the Palace of Culture, which was damaged by shelling in Rubizhne, eastern Ukraine. AFP -
Tulips grow next to a building destroyed by shelling in Rubizhne. AFP -
Internally displaced people wait to receive food inside a factory that has been turned into a shelter, in Severodonetsk. AFP -
Members of the Ukrainian Red Cross carry a woman, 92, to an ambulance from a bunker at a factory in Severodonetsk. AFP -
Ambulance workers move an injured Ukrainian serviceman to a hospital in Donetsk. AP -
A woman sits inside a subway station that has been turned into a shelter, on the outskirts of second largest Ukrainian city, Kharkiv. AFP -
Residents shelter in a subway station in Kharkiv. AFP -
Anastasiya Kryvoho attends a candlelight vigil for Ukraine on the Orthodox Holy Saturday, in Toronto, Canada. Reuters -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses a press conference with international media in an underground metro station in Kyiv. AFP -
Firefighters work at the scene of a fire after shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. EPA -
A family from Myrne, a town occupied by Russian forces, wait to register with police at an evacuation point for people fleeing from Mariupol, Melitopol and surrounding towns. Getty Images -
Oleksandr, 25, meets his parents Olga, 49, and Oleksandr, 50, who fled from the Russian-occupied village of Lyubimivka, at the evacuation point in Zaporizhzhia. EPA -
Residents walk near a damaged military vehicle in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol. AP -
A heavily damaged apartment building in Horenka. Getty Images -
Residents wrapped in blankets stand near their houses damaged by Russian shelling in Odesa. AP -
A Ukrainian flag is installed on top of a gob pile in Lysychans, eastern Ukraine. AFP -
A Ukrainian soldier rests at a checkpoint in Severodonetsk. AFP
“We will continue to put maximum pressure on President Putin to end the war,” he said. “We need to be prepared for the long term. It’s a very unpredictable and fragile situation in Ukraine but there’s absolutely the possibility that this war will drag on and last for months and years.”
Mr Stoltenberg said Nato nations that supply Kyiv with weaponry through bilateral agreements are committed to upgrading Ukrainian military equipment from Soviet-era devices to more modern and sophisticated pieces.
Turning to the issue of climate change, Mr Stoltenberg said it is crucial for Nato to tackle because it will avert conflicts.
“Climate change fuels conflict, conflict fuels war and therefore it matters for Nato.”
At the beginning of the summit, a vote of participants showed the youngsters perceive the spread of disinformation to be the biggest challenge to global security. Asked what the most powerful tool for combating this is, Mr Stoltenberg said a free and independent press.
