With the admission procedure complete, Finland officially became the 31st NATO member state on Tuesday, the 4th of April.
During a meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Brussels this Tuesday, Turkey, which just recently was the only alliance member state that hadn’t ratified Finland’s admission to NATO, will submit its official documents to US Secretary of state Antony Blinken.
The flag-raising ceremony to add Finland’s flag to NATO’s headquarters will take place in the afternoon. Finnish President Sauli Niinistö will read a speech at the event.
Last year Finland and Sweden, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, dropped their policy of neutrality maintained for decades and submitted their applications for joining NATO.
Sweden’s application remains not ratified by only two NATO member states – Hungary and Turkey. These two countries were also the last to ratify Finland’s application. Parliaments of both countries ratified Finland’s application last week.
Despite the obstacles created by Hungary and Turkey, the ratification process took less than a year, which is the fastest addition process in the history of NATO. Now the only remaining task is settling all formalities in NATO headquarters in Brussels.
«Russian dictator Vladimir Putin started a war against Ukraine with a clear goal to limit NATO. He accomplished the opposite,»
said NATO Director General Jens Stoltenberg said on the eve of Finland’s admission to the alliance.
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