In the wake of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Finland and its neighbor Sweden had applied to join NATO. All existing member states must agree to the admission of a new country, which has now happened in the case of Finland. Sweden, on the other hand, still faces a number of hurdles, since neither Turkey nor Hungary have yet ratified accession.
The ceremony to accept Finland took place on the sidelines of a meeting of the military alliance’s foreign ministers, who convened in Brussels on Tuesday for two days of deliberations. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Blinken praised the admission of the new NATO member as “historic”.
