Today, April 4, Finland officially became the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Militarnyi reports this.

Finland handed over a document on joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to the US government, represented by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and officially became a member of the military alliance.

Previously, the document on the country’s accession to the alliance was signed by Pekka Haavisto, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland.

The Finnish flag was ceremoniously raised at the headquarters of the alliance in Brussels in honor of the new NATO member. The event falls on the day NATO was founded – the 74th anniversary of the signing of the founding Washington Treaty.

During the second half of the 20th century and until today, Finland has maintained neutrality and a policy of non-aligned status. However, amid the Russian armed attack against Ukraine, the country’s government was forced to reconsider its policy and apply for NATO membership last May.

The Finnish government noted that this decision was made for security reasons, as the country has a rather long border with Russia – over 1,300 kilometers.

With the accession of Finland to NATO, the border of the alliance member countries with Russia is more than doubled. Until now, it was 1215 kilometers.

Sanna Marin, Prime Minister of Finland, stated that joining NATO marked the beginning of a new era for the country.

“Finland is entering a new era as a member of NATO. I am proud of Finland and the Finnish people. As a nation, we have been united throughout this historic process. Thank you to our Allies for your trust. Together we will be even stronger,” Marin wrote on her social media.

Sweden’s accession to NATO

Sweden applied for NATO membership at the same time as Finland, but it is still awaiting approval from Hungary and Turkey. The latter, in particular, requires the extradition of representatives of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which the Turkish authorities consider a terrorist organization that threatens state institutions.

Jens Stoltenberg called on Turkey to quickly ratify the protocol on the country’s accession to the alliance:

“Sweden was not left alone. Sweden is close to becoming a full member. My position is that Sweden has fulfilled its obligations,” Stoltenberg said.

In his short speech, Pekka Haavisto, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, also emphasized that the first task of Finland in the NATO active member status will be to aid Sweden in successfully completing the process of joining the alliance.