Finland and Sweden move forward for NATO Membership

Two European countries Finland and Sweden are close to becoming members of the military organization NATO. The process for this has been started. Finland's president and prime minister said on Thursday that their country should apply to join the NATO military alliance without delay due to the threat posed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Finland's neighbor Sweden is also close to a decision to join NATO after following a neutral path for decades. On the other hand, Moscow said that this move is definitely a danger. 

The Kremlin said it would respond, but declined to say how it would depend on how NATO moves military assets to the 1,300-km (800-mile) Finland-Russian border. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Russia would need to take retaliatory measures of a military-technical and other nature to prevent threats to its national security.

Helsinki should be aware of the responsibility and consequences of such a move. Russia has partly tried to justify an invasion of Ukraine as a means of protecting itself from NATO's eastward expansion. However, Finnish President Souli Niinisto said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was responsible for Helsinki's decision.