Finland will formally be welcomed into Nato “within days” after Turkey’s ratification of the Nordic country’s accession to the western defence alliance, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg announced.
“All 30 Nato allies have now ratified the accession protocol. Finland will formally join our alliance in the coming days,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said that he looks forward to raising Finland’s flag at Nato HQ in the coming days.
Having completed the ratification process, Turkey and Hungary need to send their approving documents to Washington, which is the depository of Nato under the alliance’s founding treaty. Stoltenberg will then formally invite Finland to join NATO.
As a final step, Finland will deliver its “instrument of accession”, a document signed by its foreign minister.
Sweden, however, which applied to join Nato at the same time last May, is still being blocked by Ankara over similar complaints.
