--- title: Finland and Sweden Joining NATO Is Big Loss for Putin description: A former NATO Supreme Commander writes that Finland and Sweden joining NATO is a major win for the Alliance—and bad news for Putin canonical: https://time.com/6177971/nato-finland-sweden-russia/ author: James Stavridis article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-05-18T09:00:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T12:33:47.594Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Finland and Sweden Joining NATO Is the Latest Example of Putin Miscalculating the Ukraine War og:description: A former NATO Supreme Commander writes that Finland and Sweden joining NATO is a major win for the Alliance—and bad news for Putin og:url: https://time.com/6177971/nato-finland-sweden-russia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt186e02795cb1c283/698a31f0e76ad29f2e63a179/GettyImages-1240730774.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: SWEDEN-DEFENCE-MILITARY-NATO-EXERCISE-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CONFLICT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Finland and Sweden Joining NATO Is the Latest Example of Putin Miscalculating the Ukraine War twitter:description: A former NATO Supreme Commander writes that Finland and Sweden joining NATO is a major win for the Alliance—and bad news for Putin twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt186e02795cb1c283/698a31f0e76ad29f2e63a179/GettyImages-1240730774.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Finland and Sweden Joining NATO Is the Latest Example of Putin Miscalculating the Ukraine War > Sponsored content. 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On Sweden's strategically-located Baltic Sea island of Gotland, Home Guard troops were last week called in for a special month-long training exercise, coinciding with annual military exercises taking place across Finland and Sweden next week. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP) (Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images) Swedish Home Guard soldiers take part in a field exercise near Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland on May 17, 2022\. - Finland and Sweden are expected to announce this week whether to apply to join NATO following Russia's Ukraine invasion, in what would be a stunning reversal of decades-long non-alignment policies. On Sweden's strategically-located Baltic Sea island of Gotland, Home Guard troops were last week called in for a special month-long training exercise, coinciding with annual military exercises taking place across Finland and Sweden next week. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP) (Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images by [James Stavridis](https://time.com/author/james-stavridis/) ## James Stavridis May 18, 2022 9:00 AM UTC That distant boom you heard last week was Vladimir Putin’s head exploding as he heard the news of a formal request from both Finland and Sweden to [join NATO](https://time.com/6176023/finland-sweden-nato/). These are two highly capable and professional [militaries](https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/14/what-finland-can-offer-nato/), whose nations have scrupulously maintained neutrality for decades, and they will add significant firepower and geopolitical advantage to NATO. It is a dramatic change that their populations, who for decades generally agreed it was better not to antagonize the Russian Federation by formally joining the Alliance, have now committed to this new course. The invasion of Ukraine has had a crystallizing effect on the security thinking of both of these Nordic nations. What will the process look like, and what are the implications of a Finnish-Swedish ascension to the decision table at the NATO headquarters in Brussels? I know both of these militaries very well. When I was Supreme Allied Commander of the Alliance less than a decade ago, both [Finland](https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics%5F49594.htm) and [Sweden](https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics%5F52535.htm) participated in many NATO operations and trained frequently with our forces. The Swedes were part of NATO operations in Afghanistan, Libya, and the Balkans. At times I was personally protected by a Swedish military security detail in the Balkans, where they also deployed forces. Swedish [Gripen](https://www.saab.com/products/gripen-e-series) fighters, highly capable jets equal to a US F/A-18 Hornet were part of the air campaign over Libya. Finland likewise has been a strong partner to NATO in Afghanistan, the Balkans, and even Iraq, where NATO maintained a strong training mission when I was Commander. The Finns have a long tradition of universal conscription and keeping their reservist training very up-to-date. I watched their highly proficient ground forces exercise on bases around Helsinki. Their defense spending is respectable and aligned with NATO objectives. A glance at a map shows how the addition of these two nations expands NATO’s strategic options to the north. The long border with Russia provides the opportunity for NATO forces to operate and train along the flanks of any further Russian military operations directed against the alliance. It is worth noting as well that both countries are deeply engaged in Arctic operations. Both have capable seagoing and aviation forces who are trained to operate under harsh Arctic conditions. When I would complain about bad weather during NATO exercises in the north of Sweden, my Swedish counterpart, the commander of their armed forces, would say, “There is not bad weather, only bad equipment.” Having more NATO capability focused on the high north is a major plus for the alliance. **_Read More:_** [**_Ukraine Is In Worse Shape Than You Think_**](https://time.com/6176748/ukraine-war-economy/) Some critics will say that admitting Sweden and Finland to the alliance is provocative and risky. Yet we need to remember why we are here: this is a war of choice, conducted by Putin, which will end badly for both him and the Russian Federation. It has been a campaign filled with documentable war crimes, massive Russian incompetence (thankfully), and an inspirational performance from the Ukrainians. Putin knows that he has shot his bolt in Ukraine—the idea of him taking some kind of military or diplomatic attack against Finland and Sweden for joining NATO seems unlikely. He simply doesn’t have the resources to do so—for now. We cannot completely rule out a Russian asymmetrical response, which might come in the area of cyber – a dog that hasn’t loudly barked yet in this conflict. It is likely that Putin is holding back some of his cyber options until sanctions begin to bite harder, at which time he may unleash them against the west. At that point, the Finns and Swedes might be targets. But the good news is that both countries have very skilled cyber forces and sophisticated cyber defenses. I used to say in Helsinki and Stockholm, “Tell us you want to join NATO on a Wednesday, and we’ll get you in by Friday.” The process won’t be quite that swift or smooth (already President Erdogan of Turkey is throwing a few yellow flags), but they will both be hoisting the NATO flag by the fall, if not sooner. There is nearly unanimous acclimation for their membership and Turkey—after perhaps extracting a few concessions—is expected to acquiesce. Russia is in the process of getting everything they _don’t_ want out of this war of choice. They have thousands of killed in action and wounded; a sunken flagship at the bottom of the Black Sea; hundreds of millions of rubles lost in military capital stocks, from helicopters to tanks to armored personnel carriers; massive economic sanctions and the shutdown of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, with concomitant revenue loss; oligarchs under sanctions; and diplomatic isolation from the western world, representing 70% of the world’s GDP. To that bloody butcher’s bill, you can add a serious and important expansion of NATO. It is a good day to have a NATO membership card, and the addition of these two nations will only strengthen the Alliance for the turbulent years ahead. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6177971/nato-finland-sweden-russia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6177971/nato-finland-sweden-russia/"},"headline":"Finland and Sweden Joining NATO Is the Latest Example of Putin Miscalculating the Ukraine War","datePublished":"2022-05-18T09:00:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T12:33:47.594Z","description":"A former NATO Supreme Commander writes that Finland and Sweden joining NATO is a major win for the Alliance—and bad news for Putin","url":"https://time.com/6177971/nato-finland-sweden-russia/","keywords":["Ukraine","freelance","world affairs"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt186e02795cb1c283/698a31f0e76ad29f2e63a179/GettyImages-1240730774.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"James Stavridis","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/james-stavridis/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt186e02795cb1c283/698a31f0e76ad29f2e63a179/GettyImages-1240730774.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SWEDEN-DEFENCE-MILITARY-NATO-EXERCISE-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CONFLICT","caption":"SWEDEN-DEFENCE-MILITARY-NATO-EXERCISE-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CONFLICT","creditText":"AFP via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ukraine/","name":"Ukraine"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6177971/nato-finland-sweden-russia/","name":"Finland and Sweden Joining NATO Is the Latest Example of Putin Miscalculating the Ukraine War"}}]}] ```