NATO newcomer Finland is now a ‘front-line state’ for the alliance, Finnish president says

By JAN M. OLSEN
Associated Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Finnish President Alexander Stubb says 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 2023, 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 in Stockholm with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. For decades, the two countries embraced a policy of neutrality, refusing to join any military alliance, but that changed after Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022.