NewsTracker Answers for week of May 02, 2022

Q: In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Nordic neighbors of Sweden and Finland are considering ending more than 70 years of neutrality and joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance. Where are Sweden and Finland, which shares an 833-mile border with Russia?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Leaders of the nations, which long served as buffers between eastern and western powers, said last week they were working closely together and would announce their decisions this month. Finland first became an independent nation during which war?

A. 30-years War

B. Crimean War

C. World War I

D. World War II

C. Finland declared its independence from the Russian Empire after a 1917 revolution during World War I toppled the Tsar. The army of the Soviet Union, which had replaced the Russian Empire, tried twice during World War II to annex Finland and failed. But, the Soviets did exert political leverage on Finland for many years after the war.

Q: The Russian Empire ruled what is now Finland for a little more than a century. Before that, Sweden ruled the same territory for more than how long?

A. 4 centuries

B. 3 centuries

C. 2 centuries

D. 1 century

A. Finland became part of the kingdom of Sweden in 1362. After a series of wars with the Russian Empire, Sweden lost control of all of Finland in 1809 when it became the Grand Duchy of Finland under Russia’s tsar. Finnish and Swedish are the official languages of Finland.

Q: Sweden shares no border with Russia, but it once ruled the site of Russia’s second-largest city ...

A. Leningrad

B. Petrograd

C. Saint Petersburg

D. All of the above

D. The city on the Baltic Sea was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703 on the site of a captured Swedish fortress, and was named after apostle Saint Peter. Saint Petersburg served as Russia’s capital for about 200 years. It was renamed Petrograd at the beginning of World War I, and named Leningrad after the death of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin. The name reverted to Saint Petersburg after the fall of Soviet Union in 1991.

Q: Russian leaders warned Sweden and Finland not to join NATO, saying it would not add to the stability of Europe and they could face “military and political consequences.” One of Russia’s reasons for invading Ukraine is that it would not promise stay out of NATO. If Sweden and Finland join, how many nations would be NATO members?

A. 42

B. 32

C. 22

D. 12

B. NATO is an alliance of the United States, Canada and 28 European nations which have pledged to defend each other in response to an attack by any external party. It was formed in 1949 in response to the power of the Soviet Union. Since the Soviet Union collapsed, 14 nations – some of them formerly ruled by the Russian Empire and other former Soviet-dominated “Satellite States” – have joined NATO. Russia calls NATO’s expansion a threat to its security.