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Added on the 04/04/2023 16:03:39 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
Finland's flag will be hoisted outside NATO headquarters on Tuesday when it becomes the 31st member of the Western alliance, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says. SOUNDBITE
Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen hails a "big day for Finland" says as the Nordic nation becomes the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in a historic shift that drew an angry warning of "countermeasures" from the Kremlin. Moscow's all-out invasion of Ukraine last year upended Europe's security landscape and prompted Finland -- and its neighbour Sweden -- to drop decades of military non-alignment. IMAGES
NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels the day after Finland officially joined the Atlantic Alliance, becoming its 31st member, in a historic realignment of Europe's defences spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine. IMAGES
The NATO flag flies in front of Finland's foreign ministry in Helsinki, as the country becomes becomes the 31st member of the US-led alliance. Last year, the Kremlin's all-out invasion of Ukraine upended Europe's security landscape and prompted Finland to drop decades of non-alignment. IMAGES
"NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance, but at the same time that is a long term perspective" says NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a visit to Helsinki. SOUNDBITE - ATTENTION, NO SOUND AT SOURCE DURING THE BEGINNING OF FIRST SHOT
Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson says the "northern flank of NATO is more complete" as he holds a press conference with his Norwegian and Finnish counterparts in Troms, Norway. Swedish troops are taking part in a vast NATO military exercise to simulate repelling an invasion of neighbouring Norway. SOUNDBITE
Sweden becomes the 32nd member of NATO with the handover of documents at a ceremony in Washington, turning the page on two centuries of non-alignment following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "Good things come to those who wait," Secretary of State Antony Blinken says as he accepts the accession documents from Sweden's prime minister, following ratification by the 31 other alliance members. SOUNDBITE
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls the invasion of Ukraine a "strategic failure" for Russia, pointing to Western unity and Moscow's losses. Russian President Vladimir "Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine has been a strategic failure -- greatly diminishing Russia's power, its interests and its influence for years to come," Blinken says in a speech in Helsinki. SOUNDBITE
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