Politico: Finland urges U.S. not to mention NATO Article 5 in Ukraine guarantees

Finland has called on the United States to abandon the mention of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which is the basis of NATO's collective defense, in the wording of commitments to Ukraine's security after the war. This was reported by Politico referring to an internal telegram of the US State Department dated January 20, which was obtained by the publication.

The document allegedly refers to a conversation between Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen and members of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, Republican Jack Bergman and Democrat Sarah Elfrett, on January 19.

During the conversation, Valtonen emphasized that Finland views Russia as a "long-term strategic threat." The minister warned against a "weak" peace agreement for Ukraine, which would hinder its ability to defend itself against future Russian aggression, Politico reports.

At the same time, Valtonen allegedly opposed security guarantees for Ukraine "that would resemble the Article 5 mechanism." She suggested that such guarantees could lead to a confusion of different concepts – the guarantees of the North Atlantic Alliance and bilateral agreements with Ukraine. Valtonen emphasized that "there should be a 'firewall' between NATO and future security guarantees to Ukraine".

Former NATO official Edward Rong explained that "the use of the term 'Article 5' in other contexts implies NATO involvement, which is not really part of any of these proposed arrangements."

"Finland and many other NATO members want to make sure that Article 5 is unique to NATO," – he said.

The US State Department declined to comment, Politico reports.

The interlocutors say that using Article 5 as a parallel has numerous advantages and disadvantages, especially given the different attitudes toward Ukraine in NATO. The situation is further complicated by the likelihood that individual countries or groups of countries, but not NATO itself, will offer Ukraine security assistance in the near future.

There is also a possibility that framing the security commitment to Ukraine as "Article 5-like" will prompt Russia to check what it really means, Politico notes.

"If Russia were to launch some kind of armed attack and the countries that support Ukraine had difficulty responding, it could call into question the strength of NATO's Article 5," – explained Rachel Ellehuis, a former Defense Department official in the Joe Biden appointed to NATO.

An unnamed Finnish official told the newspaper that the country's Defense Ministry would not comment on these discussions, but that Finland's goal is to eventually admit Ukraine to NATO.

• In December 2025, Zelenskyy disclosed all 20 points of the updated draft peace agreement: there was a clause stating that the United States, NATO, and European signatory states would provide Ukraine with security guarantees that reflect article 5 of NATO.
• Read about how the US "security guarantees" are turning into political bargaining in texts LIGA.net.