On 4 April, Finland became the 31st member of NATO. This is the ultimate result of Russian President Vladimir Putin's order (on 24 February 2022) to attack Russia's western neighbour Ukraine. Finland, which joined Sweden in seeking NATO membership, gave up its decade-old neutrality. Both nations' membership in NATO is one of the biggest challenges of this time. During the Cold War, the two Nordic countries were essentially considered neutral states, albeit for different reasons: Sweden's neutrality was much more part of its national identity, whereas Finland's neutrality was more pragmatic, with the Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance (signed between Finland and the Soviet Union in 1948) leading to a position of neutrality in the face of its often complicated relations with the former Soviet Union. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union (in 1991), Helsinki retained an independent defence policy, however, sending an unequivocal signal to NATO that it did not consider a membership. Now, an assertive Russia that "apparently is at war with the whole world" was seen as the primary impetus for Helsinki (and Stockholm) to join NATO - recognising, however, that Moscow can retaliate. Both the Finnish and Swedish ambitions to join NATO were the subject of strong support by Germany. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Alliance 90/The Greens) has described Finland's accession to NATO as "a day of joy". She underlined at a NATO meeting in Brussels (on 5 April) that the alliance will become stronger with Finland. "And we at NATO are gaining a strong partner at our side," she said. However, Foreign Minister Baerbock expressed her regret that Sweden was unable to join at the same time. Sweden's application was faced with opposition from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who claimed that it would be impossible for Turkey to support its application because the government in Stockholm allows groups which Turkey classifies as terrorist organizations. In addition to that, Hungary held up the process.
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