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Zourabichvili Congratulated Finland on Joining NATO

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Madona Gasanova
04.04.23 19:12
685
President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili congratulated Finland on joining the North Atlantic Alliance on Tuesday.

"History made as Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO. Congratulations!" President of Georgia says.

"This is a strong encouragement, and Georgia will faithfully continue its Euro-Atlantic integration path," she added.

On Tuesday, Finland officially became the 31st NATO member.

Finland's NATO accession will end the country's neutrality era. It was a non-aligned state throughout its independency gained in 1917. Finland was subjected to Soviet armed aggression in the early stages of World War II.

Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine has prompted the Finns to seek safety under NATO's collective defence agreement. Finland's accession roughly doubles the length of NATO's border with Russia.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Nato had not yet seen any changes to Russia's nuclear posture that would require any change by the alliance. He added there would be no Nato troops stationed in Finland without the consent of the government in Helsinki.

Nato will now have seven members on the Baltic Sea, further isolating Russia's coastal access to St Petersburg and its small exclave of Kaliningrad.

Dmitry Peskov told the BBC that Russia would be watching closely how Nato used Finnish territory "in terms of basing weapons systems and infrastructure there which will be right up close to our borders, potentially threatening us".

"Based on that, measures will be taken," the Kremlin spokesman said.