Finland officially joins NATO as 31st member

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) — Finland officially joined NATO on Tuesday as Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto handed the signed accession treaty to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"With the receipt of this instrument of accession, we can declare now that Finland is the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty," Blinken said at the official ceremony in Brussels.

Blinken also confirmed that he received Türkiye's accession protocol for Finland as the latest act of the membership process.

Finland's national flag will be raised at NATO headquarters later on Tuesday.

After the Russia-Ukraine war began in February last year, Finland decided to abandon its decades-long neutrality and applied for NATO membership.

With Finland's accession, the length of NATO's border with Russia nearly doubled.