NATO newcomer Finland is now a 'front

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Finnish President Alexander Stubb said Tuesday that joining the NATO alliance a year ago has transformed his country into a “front-line state,” given that it has doubled the military bloc’s border with Russia.

Finland, which became the 31st NATO member in April 202 3, has a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) land border with Russia that runs mostly through thick forests in the south and rugged landscape in the Arctic north.

Stubb was visiting neighboring Sweden and spoke at a joint news conference in Stockholm on Tuesday with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. For decades, the two countries embraced a policy of neutrality, refusing to take sides in wars or join any military alliance, but that changed after Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022.

“Sweden and Finland therefore not only share a common history. We very much share a common future,” Kristersson said at the news conference. His country became the 32nd NATO member in March.