Finland’s and Sweden’s applications to join the NATO alliance finally got the approval of the one holdout member, Turkey, who had balked at their membership for the countries’ support of Kurdish independent groups, CNBC reports.
Finland, Sweden and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding, detailing Turkey’s support for the two nations to join the alliance. All current members of NATO must approve the application of a prospective member; Turkey was the only country out of the 30 members to not immediately endorse the applications.
Finland’s location, with hundreds of miles of common border with Russia, will put further pressure on the Kremlin to address NATO’s increasing influence. For decades, Finland and Sweden resisted calls to join NATO and opted to stay neutral, but with Putin’s increasing aggression, entering the alliance provides significant security.