Finland’s accession to NATO on Tuesday will be a historic event and a direct result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said, adding that the alliance would ensure that Sweden also becomes a full member.

Jens StoltenbergPhoto: snapshot-photography/F Boillot / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia

“President (Vladimir) Putin’s stated goal of invading Ukraine was to have less to do with NATO,” he told reporters before a meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers.

“He gets the exact opposite… Today, Finland, and soon Sweden will also become full members of the alliance,” said Jens Stoltenberg.

Finland’s official accession to NATO took place on the day that the North Atlantic Alliance celebrates its 74th anniversary.

After three decades of military non-alignment, Finland will join NATO on Tuesday, a strategic shift prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a ceremony with a symbolic charge, the northern country, which shares a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia, will become the 31st member of the alliance on the anniversary of its creation on April 4, 1949.

The Finnish flag will be raised in the courtyard of the organization’s headquarters in Brussels at 3:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. in Romania) after the accession documents are handed over to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the guardian of the organization’s founding treaty. between Estonia and France in alphabetical order.