Ukraine has brought Nordic and Baltic countries together

By Matt Steinglass

By the end of the cold war, the Nordic countries had become symbols of how to transcend geopolitical conflict. Norway brokered peace deals for Guatemala and Palestine, and “getting to Denmark” became slang for perfecting liberal democracy. The Baltic countries, by contrast, emerged from Soviet occupation afraid Russian imperialism would return. Yet their warnings were often seen as post-communist paranoia.

Vladimir Putin has brought the Nordics around to the Baltics’ way of thinking. In 2024, with Finland and Sweden having joined NATO, co-ordination of the Nordic-Baltic region’s defence against the Russian threat will get under way.