Finland officially becomes a member of NATO

Finland is officially the 31st member state of NATO. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Pekka Haavisto, recently completed the official accession process, when he handed over the official document to the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference in Brussels today that joining the Alliance "will make Finland safer and NATO stronger."

According to him, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, had a stated goal of invading Ukraine - "to get less NATO at its borders, but he is getting exactly the opposite."