The US Senate approved the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO. On Wednesday, August 3, the upper house of Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of expanding the North Atlantic Alliance: 95 senators were in favor of increasing the number of countries participating in the bloc, and only one was against it. “This historic vote is an important sign of the United States’ continued unbiased commitment to NATO and our alliance’s readiness for the challenges of today and tomorrow,” said US President Joseph Biden.

Thus, 23 of the 30 NATO member states, including Germany, have already agreed to receive Finland and Sweden. The documents of its entry must be ratified by all members of the alliance. Only then will the two Nordic countries be protected by Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which describes the principle of collective defence.

Turkish objections to the accession of Sweden and Finland

Sweden and Finland in May abandoned their traditional neutrality amid Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine and applied for NATO membership. The alliance launched the procedure to admit the two countries to NATO in late June after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan withdrew objections to Sweden and Finland joining the bloc.

Official Ankara demanded that Helsinki and Stockholm extradite alleged Kurdish extremists and suspected involvement in the 2016 coup attempt. Erdogan later accused Sweden of failing to deliver on those promises.