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[Published: Sunday May 22 2022]

 Which countries are in Nato? Sweden and Finland poised to join alliance

 
BRUSSELS, 22 May. - (ANA) - Finland and Sweden are on the brink of joining Nato in a historic policy shift prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
 
Finland's parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a proposal to apply for membership to the military alliance.
 
Of the 200 lawmakers, 188 voted in favour and eight against the application, speaker Matti Vanhanen said.
 
Sweden will formally apply for Nato membership in the next few days, prime minister Magdalena Andersson confirmed on Monday.
 
The two countries are set to end policies of military non-alignment that had defined their defence strategies since the start of the Cold War.
 
The UK has welcomed the decision by Finland and Sweden to join the alliance after signing mutual security declarations with both countries last week.
 
Foreign secretary Liz Truss said: “The UK strongly supports applications for Nato membership from Finland and Sweden.
 
“They should be integrated into the alliance as soon as possible; their accession will strengthen the collective security of Europe.”
 
On Monday, president Vladimir Putin said Russia had no issue with Finland and Sweden, but that the expansion of military infrastructure on their territory would demand a reaction from Moscow.
 
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov later added both countries joining Nato would probably make "not much difference" as they had long participated in the alliance's military drills.
 
Turkey surprised its Nato allies last week by saying it would not view Finland and Sweden's applications positively, mainly citing their history of hosting members of groups Ankara deems terrorists.
 
Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said the counties' delegations should not bother coming to Ankara to convince it to approve their bid.
 
But Finland's president has said they should be able to reach an agreement with Turkey over its objections.
 
If Sweden and Finland’s applications are accepted, they would join 30 countries already in the alliance.
 
 
What is NATO?
 
 
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a political and military alliance of 30 countries.
 
Nato was set up in 1949 to protect members against the Soviet Union, with 12 nations initially signing up to the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington DC.
 
These countries were the US, Canada, the UK, Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal.
 
The collective defence clause of Nato's founding treaty – Article 5 of the Washington Treaty – is a provision that means an attack against one member is considered an attack against all of them.
 
This is a fundamental part of Nato and why it says it is a defensive alliance.
 
Nato says military operations are carried out under Article 5 or a United Nations mandate, alone or in cooperation with other countries and international organisations.
 
 
Which countries are in Nato, and what date did they join
 
 
1949: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the UK, the US.
 
1952: Greece, Turkey
 
1955: Germany
 
1982: Spain
 
1999: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland
 
2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia
 
2009: Albania, Croatia
 
2017: Montenegro
 
2020: North Macedonia           - (ANA) -
 
 
AB/ANA/22 May 2022 — - -
 
 
 

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