UPDATED: Finnish president confirms his country will apply to join NATO

HELSINKI, May 15 (Reuters) – Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto confirmed on Sunday that his country would apply for membership of the NATO military alliance.

The announcement came after Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Thursday they both favoured NATO membership, in a major policy shift prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia, which shares a long land border with Finland, has said it would be a mistake for Helsinki to join the transatlantic alliance and that it would harm bilateral ties.

 Germany has taken all preparations for a quick ratification process should Finland and Sweden decide to apply for NATO membership, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday, while underlining both countries’ need for security guarantees.

“Germany has prepared everything to do a quick ratification process,” she told reporters on a second day of talks with her NATO counterparts in Berlin, adding that ministers had agreed at a dinner on Saturday that there should not be grey zone between the time they apply and the time they join.

“If they decide to join they can join quickly…We must make sure that we will give them security guarantees, there must not be a transition period, a grey zone, where their status is unclear,” she said.

She was referring to the ratification period that can take as long as a year, during which the Nordic countries will not yet be protected by NATO’s article 5 which guarantees that an attack on one ally is an attack on all.

NATO’s deputy secretary general said on Sunday he was confident Turkey’s concerns over Finland and Sweden joining NATO could be addressed.

“Turkey is an important ally and expressed concerns that are addressed between friends and allies,” Mircea Geoană told reporters on arrival at foreign ministers meeting of alliance members in Berlin.

“I am confident if these countries decide to seek membership in NATO we will be able to welcome them to find all conditions for consensus to be met.”