Diplomats say the ratification of all 30 member states’ parliaments will take place within months.
Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO after Russia’s military operations in Ukraine caused a major shift in the countries’ decades of military neutrality.
“The two requests you submitted today are a historic step. The members of the alliance will now consider the next stages in your paths to join NATO,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, after receiving the applications for admission from the Finnish and Swedish ambassadors at NATO headquarters.
“I warmly welcome the requests of Finland and Sweden to join NATO. You are our closest partners,” Stoltenberg told reporters.
This process is expected to take about two weeks, despite the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reservations about the accession of Helsinki and Stockholm.
If the Turkish president’s objections are overcome, and accession talks go as expected, the two countries could join within a few months to about a year.
The process usually takes eight to 12 months, but NATO wants to move quickly given the threat Russia poses to both countries.
Public opinion in Finland and Sweden has shifted dramatically in favor of NATO membership since Russia launched its own military operation in Ukraine on February 24.
And the Russian presidency, “the Kremlin”, said, last Monday, that the decision of Finland and Sweden to join NATO will not improve security in Europe.
“We are not convinced that the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO will somehow strengthen or improve the security structures on our continent,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“This is a serious issue and one that worries us, and we will follow very carefully what the practical consequences of Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO will be in terms of our security, which must be guaranteed in an absolutely unconditional way,” he added.
But he also noted that compared to Ukraine, Russia and Finland or Sweden have no territorial disputes.
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