Finland urged the U.S. not to grant Ukraine security guarantees similar to NATO’s Article 5

Finland’s authorities are unhappy with wording used by U.S. officials about providing Ukraine with security guarantees similar to Article 5 of the NATO charter. In Helsinki, they believe that offering such guarantees could undermine NATO’s mutual-defense clause.

This is reported by Politico, citing an internal U.S. State Department communication dated January 20.

Finland’s position is supported by many other countries as well.

“Using the term ‘Article 5’ in other contexts implies NATO involvement, which in fact is not part of any of the proposed agreements. Finland and many other NATO members want to ensure it’s clear that Article 5 is unique to NATO,” said former Alliance official Edward Wrang.

Finland’s foreign minister Elina Valtonen called for creating a “protective barrier” between NATO and any future security guarantees for Ukraine. She discussed this issue in the U.S. Congress in January.

“Valtonen warned against any proposals for postwar Ukraine’s security guarantees similar to Article 5… She cautioned that this could blur NATO’s Article 5 guarantees with bilateral commitments to Ukraine,” the outlet reported, citing the State Department correspondence.

At the same time, Finland warns against a “weak” peace agreement on Ukraine that could hinder its ability to defend itself against a possible future invasion. A Finnish source said their country’s long-term position is that Ukraine should join NATO. But for now, Finnish leaders are not ready to agree to Article 5–like security guarantees for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in Kyiv there are fears that the country may have to defend itself on its own in the event of a new Russian invasion, and that Western security guarantees could prove useless.