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Turkey was the last of the 30 Nato countries to back Finland’s membership.
Finland has a 1,300 km (810 mile) border with Russia, meaning Nato’s frontier with Russia will roughly double in length.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Twitter: “As allies, we will give and receive security. We will defend each other. Finland stands with Sweden now and in the future and supports its application.”
Meanwhile, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter: “This will make the whole Nato family stronger and safer.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year pushed Finland and its neighbour, Sweden, to apply for Nato membership, abandoning decades of military non-alignment. Sweden is still waiting for membership.
So what is Nato and which countries are already members?
What is Nato?
Nato — the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation — is a political and military alliance formed of 30 mostly European countries, as well as the US and Canada. Russia and Ukraine are not members.
The heart of the Nato alliance is Article 5, an agreement that an armed attack on one member will be viewed as an attack on all, and that they are obliged to defend one another.
Nato was formed of 12 countries in 1949 to counter the threat of post-war communist Russian expansion in Europe.
In 1955, Soviet Russia responded to Nato’s formation by creating its own military alliance of eastern European communist countries, called the Warsaw Pact.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, several former Warsaw Pact countries switched sides and became Nato members.
Nato does not have its own armed forces. Instead, it has a military command structure that works with the militaries of member countries in peacekeeping operations.
Nato members’ list
Nato is made up of 28 European nations, as well as the US and Canada.
The founding members were:
- Belgium
- Canada
- Denmark
- France
- Iceland
- Italy
- Luxembourg
- The Netherlands
- Norway
- Portugal
- The UK
- The US
Members who have joined since are:
- Albania (2009)
- Bulgaria (2004)
- Croatia (2009)
- Czech Republic (1999)
- Estonia (2004)
- Finland (2023)
- Germany (1955)
- Greece (1952)
- Hungary (1999)
- Latvia (2004)
- Lithuania (2004)
- Montenegro (2017)
- North Macedonia (2020)
- Poland (1999)
- Romania (2004)
- Slovakia (2004)
- Slovenia (2004)
- Spain (1982)
- Turkey (1952)
Why has Nato not intervened in Ukraine?
Nato said it condemned “in the strongest possible terms” Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but it has not sent any troops there.
Ukraine is not a member of Nato, so the alliance is not obliged to defend it. It is a “partner” country, meaning there is an understanding it might join in the future.
Nato countries have also made it clear that, if their troops were to confront Russian forces in Ukraine, it could lead to an all-out war between Russia and the West.
The UK’s former prime minister Boris Johnson said last year that British troops would not fight Russian forces in Ukraine. He added that they would remain “firmly within the borders” of Nato member states.
However, member countries have sent tanks to Ukraine.
Why does Russia want to block Ukraine from joining Nato?
Russia vehemently opposes Ukraine’s potential membership of Nato. It has demanded a formal veto on it ever becoming a member — something the alliance has refused to agree to.
Russia fears Nato has been encroaching on its territory by taking on new members in eastern Europe. It says that admitting Ukraine would bring Nato forces into its backyard.
Nato denies that this is a valid concern since it is a peacekeeping alliance.
In December 2021, Mr Putin said Russia would seek “reliable and long-term security guarantees” from the US and its allies “that would exclude any further Nato moves eastward and the deployment of weapons systems that threaten us in close vicinity to Russian territory”.
More broadly, Mr Putin wants Nato to pull back its existing military presence in eastern Europe. This includes a regularly rotating series of exercises in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, all former Soviet states.
Six Nato countries currently border Russia.
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