The Finnish parliament overwhelmingly approved the country's request to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), after Sweden signed a similar request, and while the US President receives Thursday the Prime Minister of Sweden and the Finnish president, Moscow warned against NATO's expansion to the east.

Earlier today, the Finnish parliament voted by a large majority of more than 95%, which allows the official nomination of this country to be sent to the headquarters of the alliance.

At the end of a two-day parliamentary session, the country's accession project to NATO was approved by 188 votes to 8, with no member abstaining, according to the poll result.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced on Sunday their desire to submit an application to join NATO.

Currently, Niinisto has to sign the request for delivery, along with a similar Swedish document, at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The vote was overwhelmingly (Reuters)

document

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Swedish Foreign Minister Anne Linde signed the country's NATO application document.

The Minister said that applying to join NATO is the best step in Sweden's interest.

With this step, the two countries will abandon a long-standing tradition of not joining military alliances.

The accession procedures will start when Helsinki and Stockholm submit their applications to the NATO headquarters in Brussels, and to complete this step, all members of the alliance (30 countries) must agree.


German support

In a related context to these developments, German Chancellor Olaf Schulz said that Berlin "will work to strengthen our military contacts with Sweden and Finland and trusts Turkey's support for their accession to NATO."

"We will work to speed up the ratification of the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO," Schultz stressed.

Commenting on these developments, German Foreign Minister Annallina Birbock expects Finland and Sweden to join NATO quickly, despite Turkey's continuing concerns.

"I am very confident that Finland and Sweden will join quickly, because everyone is well aware that this is a crucial moment. This is a historic moment, but in a very tragic situation," Birbock said today, Tuesday, during her meeting with her Danish counterpart Jeppe Kofod in Berlin.

On the issue of possible security guarantees for Finland and Sweden towards Russia during the accession procedures, Bierbock said that the German government and many other NATO countries are planning fast ratification procedures, explaining that this reduces the time of the transitional phase.

"If this stage lasts a little longer, because it will not be just one day, we will provide all the appropriate security guarantees," she added.

Birbock: It was Russia that pushed Finland and Sweden to join NATO (Anatolia)

unresolved issues

Birbock stated that she was informed that there are still some outstanding issues on the Turkish side, explaining that these matters are under discussion now.

The minister pointed out that it was Russia that pushed Finland and Sweden to join NATO, and said, "At this moment we Europeans and Democrats must stand by them, and this at the same time strengthens our security," adding that given this mutual understanding, "I am very confident that Joining will be quick.

The Swedish Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that Linde and her Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto will visit Turkey to discuss the issue of their countries' accession to NATO.


Reservation and reception

Last Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his country's reservations about Sweden and Finland joining NATO.

President Erdogan said that Sweden and Finland do not show an explicit stance against terrorist organizations, and Ankara cannot accept their accession to NATO at this stage.

Regarding the planned visit of two delegations from Finland and Sweden to Ankara, President Erdogan said that there is no need for this visit if it is aimed at persuading Turkey to accept the two countries' accession to NATO.

For his part, US President Joe Biden will receive on Thursday Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto at the White House, his spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre announced in a statement Tuesday.

"They will discuss the candidacies of Finland and Sweden to join NATO, European security as well as support for Ukraine" in light of the Russian attack on it, the spokeswoman said.

Russia's position

In response to these developments, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a press conference that his country had warned against the expansion of NATO to the east.

Lavrov indicated that Finland and Sweden's accession to the alliance would not make a big difference in light of their long-standing participation in maneuvers with the alliance.

This comes at a time when the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of two Finnish diplomats belonging to Finland's mission to Moscow.

The ministry said - in a statement - that the expulsion of the two employees was a reaction to the Finnish behavior and what it described as the unjustified expulsion of "staff of the Russian embassy in Helsinki from Finland."

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Moscow summoned the Finnish ambassador to it and lodged a strong protest with him in this regard.