Finland on Tuesday grew to become an official member of the army alliance NATO, prompted by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s choice to invade Ukraine final yr.

The Nordic nation is the thirty first nation to hitch the alliance, which vows in its treaty that an assault on one in all its members is an assault on all of them. It is a historic second for Finland, which has adopted a path of neutrality for many years.

“Finland’s membership shouldn’t be focused towards anybody. Nor does it change the foundations or aims of Finland’s overseas and safety coverage,” Finnish President Sauli Niinisto mentioned in a written assertion Tuesday.

His feedback got here shortly after the nation’s overseas affairs minister, Pekka Haavisto, handed over all of the accession paperwork in Brussels, at NATO’s headquarters, within the presence of the group’s secretary common, Jens Stoltenberg, and U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken.

“Welcome to the alliance,” Stoltenberg instructed Finnish representatives on the ceremony.

Authorities in Helsinki determined that within the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022, the nation was now not protected by itself and utilized to hitch the alliance a couple of months later. Finland shares an 832-mile border with Russia, the longest of any European Union member. NATO’s border with Russia will roughly double in measurement after Finland’s accession.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov mentioned Tuesday that Russia would intently comply with any NATO deployments in Finland and that his nation would take “counter-measures” to this accession, based on Reuters.

Finland utilized to develop into a member of NATO similtaneously Sweden. Nevertheless, it’s nonetheless unclear what the long run holds for Stockholm.

Its choice to hitch the alliance additionally marked a watershed second within the nation’s historical past, provided that it had adopted an impartial army coverage for greater than 200 years.

Hungary and Turkey — two NATO nations — have but to approve Sweden’s accession to the army alliance.

An official in Stockholm, chatting with CNBC on Mar. 20 on situation of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the topic, mentioned they’re nonetheless working beneath the idea that Sweden shall be an official NATO member by July, when heads of state of the alliance collect for a gathering.

Turkey’s opposition to Sweden’s NATO membership facilities round what it says is the harboring of militants from the Kurdistan Staff’ Get together. In January, far-right demonstrators burned a Quran and chanted anti-Muslim slogans in entrance of Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm, Sweden. Ankara instantly denounced the act, in addition to Sweden’s granting of a allow to the right-wing group to carry the demonstration.

Throughout a NATO assembly in Madrid in June final yr, Sweden, Finland and Turkey signed an settlement outlining a path to a compromise, with Ankara calling for additional anti-terrorism ensures.

Chatting with CNBC in February, Sweden’s Overseas Affairs Minister Tobias Billström mentioned his nation had completed its half to satisfy the settlement.

NATO’s Stoltenberg Tuesday mentioned he’s in shut contact with Ankara and Turkish President Recep Erdogan. “Not solely Finland, but in addition Sweden have delivered on the commitments they made,” he mentioned, hoping that Stockholm will be part of “as quickly as attainable.”

—CNBC’s Natasha Turak contributed to this text.