nato is an alliance of choice, not coercion. this is a victory for democracy in action. nland and sweden are seeking to join nato because their citizens demanded it. and their elected leaders heard them. that's how it works when leaders derive their power from the consent of the governed. and that's why nato's open door has always been so important. it allows nations to choose for themselves to ask to be part of a group of nations that value freedom, democracy, and human dignity above all else. countries must demonstrate that they meet nato's high standards for military inon rability, economic transparency and democratic accountability. that's what sweden and finland have done. so today, it's an affirmation of those countries in europe that share our values, that we're willing and able to do what it takes to be part of the alliance. nato's door remains open. just a few minutes, i'll be leaving to spend time with two of our indo-pacific allies. in a half-hour or so i'll be flying to the republic of korea and japan. i thank the president and prime minister for traveling her

swedish prime minister join president biden at the white house to talk about their bid to join the nato alliance amid russia's invasion of ukraine. president biden said the two countries have the complete backing of the u.s. in joining nato. this is about 25 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states, accompanied by the president of the republic of finland and the prime minister of sweden. [band plays "hail to the chief brts] -- "hail to the chief"] pres. biden: please be seated, thank you. it's not only a beautiful day, this is in my view and the view of my team, a momentous day. it's a very, very good day. today i am proud to welcome and offer the strong support of the united states for the applications of two great democracies and two close, highly capable partners, to join the strongest, most power. defensive alliance in the history of the world. two proud, independent countries exercising the sovereign rights all states possess to decide their own security. president niinisto and prime minister andersson, it is great to have you here at the white house. it was out

one has to not forget, nato has been the most successful alliance in history. it has made sure that the cold war and results are won. without a single shot being down in europe. i think the deterrent of nato and article five is strong. i do not have any doubts all of the countries outside of nato respect that. and it has been successful. i think afghanistan is my feeling of the relevance of nato in any way. >> one final question. my question does focus on the endgame. your interest is the next few months. i wanted to offer you the chance to comment on behalf of your cells or the government about -- of yourselves or the government about the endgame. an interesting debate where he and secretary blinken visited at the end of april at austin said our objective is to weaken russia so that they cannot do this again. that led to a debate if our long-term goal is to weaken russia indefinitely or if this is a means to an end. what is the long-term goal was the war is finally over? is there a way you can think about this debate that secretary austen provoked about the lon

alliance sooner? at the summit of nato, the alliance sooner? at the summit of nato. poland _ the alliance sooner? ted - the alliance sooner? at the summit of nato, poland advocated for - of nato, poland advocated for ukraine to join nato. of nato, poland advocated for ukraine tojoin nato. it of nato, poland advocated for ukraine to join nato. it was of nato, poland advocated for ukraine tojoin nato. it was before the attack on georgia, before crimea, the dundas and this was started by russia this year. a different security situation. probably at that moment, allies would have taken another decision. we would be living in a better world. but unfortunately it was blocked by some of our allies, now we are living with this. nevertheless, it is never too late. it is up to ukraine whether they want tojoin it is up to ukraine whether they want to join nato and when, it is up to ukraine whether they want tojoin nato and when, and whether they are already prepared. it is up to the allies, the allied countries to decide. it doesn't seem that it countries to decide. it doesn't seem thatitis countries to deci

but nato is a defensive alliance. it also means nato has to defend an even larger area, double the size basically, like you mentioned, that could potentially be the site of a russian incursion into nato territory. so it obligates nato to an article 5-type provision which means if finland were to be attacked by russia, then all the nato nations would have to join in to protect finland and that would be a key provision of that. so it increases nato's requirements to defend more territory but it also provides russia with a warning that the nato alliance is expanding, exactly the opposite of what putin wanted. >> absolutely. and, kim, jump in on that. because russia's response to finland on this, this move, is that they definitely see it as a threat to russia. nic robertson played the sound. i want to read it again, the finnish president when asked if he thinks this move would provoke russia. his response was if that would be the case, my response would be that you, putin, you caused this. look in the mirror. what do you t

i think that the position of nato has always been clear because the alliance is aware that it is involvedous confrontation with russia, but nato is not in the last war with russia, russia is at war with ukraine and the role of its members is to support ukraine with money, weapons and ammunition, to what extent the current western military aid is sufficient for ukraine, i think we all have to admit that nato is making up for lost time and opportunities, what we clearly see now is a transition to the supply of heavy weapons, mainly artillery, and in larger quantities and with a much larger supply of ammunition, this will allow the ukrainian military to hold its current positions and disrupt further russian attacks, but this is not enough to allow the ukrainian military to conduct large-scale offensive operations the parties believe that they can achieve military progress russia has a larger army ukraine believes in its victory but some believe that there can be no winners in such a war in your opinion, what could be the course of this war i think in the short term it is becoming increasingl

nato respect that. that is because the alliance has been successful. i think afghanistan does not deny with nato for us and in a way for quick thoughts sneak in one final question for myself before hand it to wrap up on the ukraine conflicts. my question does focus on the end game. your interest is the next few months i'll let you speak for yourself of it. i just wanted to offer you the chance to comment on behalf of yourself and your government how do you feel the end game in this conflict was marked secretary austin had a debate the pentagon when he came back from kyivd wn he and blinken in april. he said the objective is to weaken russia they can't do this again. that led to a big debate about our permanent long-term goal to weaken russia really in depth and definitely a means to an end and what is the long-term goal for european security once this is finally over? is there a way you think about the answer to the debate secretary austin provoked about the long term objective in regard with russia, madam starting with you please. >> it's important we

nato expansion. mr. sullivan: look, the great thing about the free world - about the western alliance, about nato - is that you've got a raucous collection of states that all have opinions, that all have perspectives, that all have interests. but they also know how to and when to pull together and how to settle any differences. and i expect these differences will be settled. i expect that nato will speak with one voice in support of finland and sweden at the end of the day. and i think the remarkable unity you've seen with respect to sanctions coming out of the eu, the united states, and our indo-pacific partners; the support that we have provided ukraine in terms of military and humanitarian assistance - it's only grown stronger over the course of the last 12 weeks, and we expect that that momentum will continue, and it's having a major impact on the battlefield. ukraine won the battle of kyiv. ukraine has now beaten russia back from kharkiv. and ukrainian defenders are putting the military assistance we provided to good use in defending territory in the donbas as well. yes. >> just a little bit about the

nato is an alliance of choice, not coercion. this is a victory for democracy in action. it, and their elected leaders heard them. that's how it works, when leaders derive their power from the consent of the government -- from the consent of the govern. that's why nato's open door has always been so important. it allows nations to choose for themselves to be asked to join nations that allow freedom, democracy and human dignity above all else. countries must demonstrate they meet nato's high standards for economic transparency and democratic accountability. that's what sweden and finland have done. so today, it's an affirmation those countries in europe that share our values, that we're willing and able to do what it takes to be part of the alliance. nato's door remains open. in just a few minutes i'll be leaving to spend time with two of our indo-pacific allies. in a half hour or so i will be flying to the republic of korea and japan. i thank the president and the prime minister for traveling here on this meet, for this meeting, before i take off because it is so important

almost across the board strong support for finland and nato joining -- and linda sweden joining the nato allianceoose to. i'm confident. >> all of the nato states have to approve new members, which normally takes months. ministers in berlin to speed this up to prevent the so-called great -- great period in which they would not be protected, which says an attack on one is an attack on all. as soon as finland and sweden applied for nato membership, it was expected the process would be swift, but the turkey position may have slowed it down. no one can say when they were -- will be added to the collection. >> sweden and finland have been nato partners since 1994 and have taken part in several nato missions since the end of the cold war. what's look what they need to be full members. nato candidates must be democracies, have an open market economy and be able to contribute militarily to the alliance. finland and sweden check those boxes, have strong militaries and sweden is a major supplier of weapons. once the application goes through, parliament of all 30 nato countries need to approve new members.

but i don't see any stumbling blocks across the nato alliance that we couldn't see this move forward quickly. but it's hard to tell what each government is going to do. this is all being laid out right now for the jonathan kath's from the german marshall fund. thank you. thank you. hundreds of ukrainian soldiers are facing an uncertain future after surrendering to russian forces in the port of medieval. moscow says most have been sent to a prison camp in eastern ukraine, controlled by russia. keith hoped to get the soldiers back in a prisoner swap, but moscow has threatened to put some of them on trial soldiers surrender to an unknown fate. this footage, released by the russian defense ministry, shows ukrainian soldiers laying down their arms after weeks under siege at the as of style steel plant. of the 1700 soldiers, russia says, have surrendered this week over 700 did. so in the past 24 hours. amid international concern about their fate in russian hands, the international red cross has registered hundreds of the soldiers as prisoners of war. moscow has also released footage of wha

it has been a major victory for the unity of the nato alliance so far. as been a lot more united than the european union, as we get to the tricky bits of energy. mark: final question, because we are going on to talk about kharkiv with a special report on the ground, but can i ask your opinion about something sent by britain and coming for british intelligence, the inability of russia to france on that they have basically been bartered since february 24, indicative according to britain. russia is incapable of taking a major ukrainian city. what would you say to that? >> that is probably an accurate depiction of the state of affairs. they have a supply chain tissue which they thought would lead to a very successful offensive on kharkiv, but it didn't work. they have taken over cities inside ukraine and have had to either level them to the ground or do so with little resistance, or after a protracted campaign, even for small areas, with thousands of people in weeks of fighting, and the wegner group and the chechens had to be brought into break the stalemate.

this move by finland and potentially sweden would be a major expansion on the nato alliance. russia says it's a threat and russia says it's vowing to retaliate. give us the latest. >> what the prime minister and the president said today was that if finland joins nato, that makes, gives finland more security that when finland joins nato, that will give greater strength to nato and that the government should move without delay. and the government's expected to recommend to parliament on sunday that the parliament goes ahead and votes. this is very much this huge geopolitical shift. russia is threatening to watch the military moves finland makes along the border and is vowing to take military action if they feel the need to do that. the president of finland has said, however, that what vladimir putin is witnessing happening in finland, this move towards nato is something of its own making. this is how the finnish president framed it. >> well, if that would be the case that we join, what my response would be that you caused this. look at the mirror. >> well one of the members of p

has been very keen to strengthen the nato alliance and show that it is committed to collective security here in europe. romania directly borders ukraine, where the war is raging both onl land and at sea. the exercise took place not far from snake island, which the russians raided in late february and are occupying. the ukrainians have struck back, managing to hit the flagship "moskva" cruiser and sink it, and the past few days they released videos of their forces allegedly hitting both a russian landing vessel and a russian chopper unloading troops on snake island. the russians for their part claim to have hit ukrainian strike aircraft and a helicopter. romanian forces telling us they recently had to destroy a sea mine that floated here from ukrainian waters. but the commander in charge of this drill says they keep the war next door off their minds and focus on getting better. >> it is important on the level of training that you reach. >> reporter: it is quite real right now. it is next door. >> yes, it is real. and we are prepared for it. >> reporter: >> re the u.s. says exercises like

showcases just how strong the nato alliances and how determined the west is to fundamentally deprivein over the long term of his strategic energy weapon. >> how much of the money that russia makes on selling their oil and gas is going to finance this war? if they really do get cut off, what happens to their ability to take keep the war going? >> it deprives them. of course they do have other customers. they have other countries in the indo-pacific who will buy russian energy and resources. but overtime, i think the sanctions, combined with the export control restrictions that will deny russia the ability to innovate. the ability to modernize their defense and aerospace sector. the ability to modernize their tech sector. that will continue to squeeze the russian economy. putin is so isolated, he gave this strange speech in red square during this may 9th celebration earlier this week. he's obviously talking to a small circle of people. we don't know stephanie whether fundamentally his calculus will be changed by any of these economic issues. but he is continuously isolated. and russia

nato apartment since the very morning today. they handed 100ltenberg letters in which the countries express their desire to further join the alliance. such a rather solemn moment. moreover, i would say that not so much for stoltenberg and nato, because the alliance is well acquainted with both countries, and more for diplomats, because this is the end of 80 years of military neutrality for finland. well, sweden has not joined military alliances in general for more than 200 years although it is clear from totenberg, he supported the celebration of the moment, called the applications of the two countries historic, let's listen security, this is a great day at a critical moment for our security. every country has the right to choose its own path you made your choice after a thorough democratic process i sincerely welcome the requests of finland and sweden to join nato you are our closest partners and your nato membership will strengthen our common security the application you submitted today marks a historic step the applications must now be approved all 30 countries of the alliance before there will be 32 countries and there are alre

swedish prime minister join president biden at the white house to talk about their bid to join the nato alliance amid russia's invasion of ukraine. president biden said the two countries have the complete backing of the u.s. in joining nato. this is about 25 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, the

first is that the government has decided to state that sweden wants to become a member of the nato alliance: we will show you this map of europe, it marks nat membership. nato expanded more into eastern europe after 1997. to the north you see sweden and finland, primarily to the west and south you see the countries who have been members of nato for longer than before 1997. they've been major contributors to the alliance and partners but they haven'been full members. nato now says they will be welcomed with open arms. the response is not so enthusiastic from vlimir putin. >> russia has no problems with these states. therefore, the expansion of nato at t expense of these countries does not pose a direct threat to russia and the expansion of military infrastructure into this territory will certainly require a response. we will see what our response will be based on the threats that will be created for us. ross: here is lyse doucet again. lyse: it affects a number of dimensions. as vladimir putin said, it will depend on the forces on the ground. it finland and sweden, although they have been pr

they are the ones that push them into the arms of the nato alliance — them into the arms of the nato e, one silver lining. inthis— finns. i am glad to see, one silver lining, in this terrible situation in ukraine. _ lining, in this terrible situation in ukraine, the translated relationship, which sadly was weakened under president trump, and the strengthening of nato, and to blame _ the strengthening of nato, and to blame. but there is some benefit to this, blame. but there is some benefit to this. so— blame. but there is some benefit to this. so i_ blame. but there is some benefit to this, so i would say welcome to finland — this, so i would say welcome to finland and welcome to sweden. tom, let's brinr finland and welcome to sweden. tom, let's bring you — finland and welcome to sweden. tom, let's bring you in _ finland and welcome to sweden. tom, let's bring you in here. _ finland and welcome to sweden. tom, let's bring you in here. does _ finland and welcome to sweden. torn. let's bring you in here. does the moving way from utility of country like sweden and finland make the world

-35 fighters, without having had time to deal with the membership of sweden and finland in the nato alliancee planned to be drawn into their orbit another neutral european country, according to the agency. reuters swiss defense ministry considers rapprochement with nato we see that the cold war mentality is spreading in europe through nato, the goals of the north atlantic alliance have shifted. now. they coincide with the goals of the us washington, in turn, does not hide the goals. the pumping of ukraine with weapons is in full swing, however, even among the american establishment. isolation of multi-billion dollar shumkov. he is questioned by congresswoman taylor greenza fooled the us authorities in money laundering through financial assistance to ukraine, in her opinion, legislators can thus spend budgetary funds through npos of their relatives. and besides, in the united states itself, there are many problems with their fears about the allocation of forty billion dollars to ukraine related to the fact that this is not a matter of our national security. we will return to this topic again,

international perspectives. sweden and finland want to join the nato military alliance out of decades of neutrality. so will it make them safer? a nato stronger, and it's russia right to feel more frightened than before. find out until the point shortly. to the point on d. w. we've got some hot tips for your bucket list. ah, romantic corners chat hot spot for food and some great cultural memorials to boot d w, travel off we go. sweden and finland both say they want to abandon decades of neutrality to join the nato military alliance. the decision comes at a crucial moment in the war in ukraine. images of ukrainian fight is many horribly wounded, being evacuated from the as of steel work to marry you. paula. have gone around the world and view of russia's brutal onslaught in that city.

there are certainly been some improvements, finland in sweden, joining nato, strengthen the alliance. some countries have come to the realization they have to do more in terms of providing for their own self defense and their contribution within nato. but there are still many political disagreements about the road ahead . so i think it's a mistake to get self congratulatory about how united nato is. because that simply masks problems we will see in the very near future. well, not too long ago, president trump, whom you served were saying nader was obsolete. and as you wrote, you sort of saw him wanting to withdraw from nato. we heard president macro and saying native would become brain dead. and this was in there very near our, near history of what happened. can it be flipped on a switch that fast? because what i sort of see around the world is a lot of doubt and america's willingness to remain there for our allies, dark days that that may be going right now, but not sustainable. well, i think american credibility is on the line here with respect to ukraine, and i think there's a hist

nato. that's what it looks like. do they get any security assurances from the alliance while they wait for their membership to be approved? gay nato is principle of an attack against one member is an attack against or is only applicable to members. so in that interim period are when they do apply for a for their membership. and we know that that period can take up to months, while all the 30 members get it ratified in their parliaments. they don't qualify for that collective defense that nato would offer a member. so it is up to an individual member states to offer security guarantees to the 2 countries. and we know, for example, that the united kingdom, the united states, have done so in the run up to these announcements, offering security guarantees. and officially, britain said he couldn't conceive the idea of one of these countries coming under attack and, and britain not doing anything about it. so all indications are that they will get some kind of security guarantees from individual members, especially in light of recent developments. moscow threatening retaliation. the deputy foreign minister this morning saying

and certainly members of the nato alliance. lithuania has taken their role in the alliance so seriously. they've pledged soldiers and military support time and again when the nato alliance picked a targeted strategy. they're always part of the answer and glad to be. they have dedicated 2.5% of their annual budget to the military. i believe they rank third in the nato ranks in percentage of budget that they are dedicating to the defense of the country. they may be small, but they're mighty, and yesterday the group that came to see me, led by the new lithuanian ambassador included lucas svikas, deputy chairman of the committee for the future, jonas juradis, deputy speaker of the parliament and the deputy chairman of the committee on european affairs. we talked about the current situation in ukraine. they feel it personally. but they also feel personally the aggression of vladimir putin. not far from lithuania is a part of russia to the west of lithuania, known as kaleningrad, a military fortress established by the russians on the

other men sin lennon, sweden signal they were thinking of making this dark decision. joining nato, the alliance expected a tough response from moscow not from one of its own. so ever since turkey raised conditions for accepting the membership, the rest of nato was actually really irritated and pretty outspoken about it. however, we hear from today's meeting between the foreign minister of turkey and biden's national security adviser blinking that both sides are on a path to find an agreement. but at this point, they don't mention this sir, this specifics, right? so what, what's in it and what's, what does turkey want out of this meeting them? right, so anchors main demands are for the nordic countries to hall support for kurdish millison or groups present on their, on the nordic, a territory. and they also, i want them to live their bands and some a sales of arms to turkey, add ons, as obviously using the current war in ukraine to raise his case as he knows or how important it is for nato to stay united against vladimir putin plus adon is also facing an election with in his own country and his

alliance. having said that, turkey does have the second largest army in nato. it's a big defense provider as well, and it has a president who is quite keen on voicing his opinions on certain issues, grievances that he wants aired, in particular those concerns he has about sweden's perceived sympathies from turkey's point of view to members of the kurdikurd ish diaspora, and he has accused them of harboring kurdish separatist groups that are deemed terrorist organizations by turkey and also some other parts of the world as well. and there is a thorny issue of an arms embargo that dates back to 2019 that sweden pushed for on some turkish material on equipment and so on and so forth. and the other issue that turkey probably wants to discuss is having been frozen out of a u.s. fighter jet program after it bought russia missile system. so these are the types of things that turkey also wants a seat around the table to negotiate on. obviously they viewed this as a big opportunity. it is a big moment for the geopolitics in this part of the world. and we can't rule out

and having two new nato members in the high north will enhance the security of our alliance and deepen our security operation across the boarder. >> reporter: sweden and finland, sharing an 800-mile border with russia, are both seeking to join the alliance because of russia's invasion of ukraine. >> that was a watershed moment for sweden. my government has come to the conclusion that the security of the swedish people will be best protected within the nato alliance. >> reporter: the countries are seeking fast-track approval, but turkey's president repeated his opposition today, joining nato takes unanimous approval from all current members. president biden is expected to quickly sign a new $40 billion military, economic, and humanitarian aid package for to ukraine after the senate passed the bill today. >> yeas are 86, the nays are 11, and the bill is passed. >> reporter: kentucky senator rand paul. >> mr. paul, no. >> reporter: he put a hold on the legislation saying there should be an inspector general to oversee the spending. >> anyone concerned about the cost of supporting a ukrain

there's been wide support across the nato alliance for that. the german hosts here been saying, absolutely, they're very welcoming nato. joe biden talking to the leaders of both countries just yesterday or so, signaling support. but his turkey that might be trying to throw a spanner in the works, sir richard type ad one, the turkish president saying that he has a problem with these 2 countries joining saying that they, he sees them as harboring terrorists. now there's this to people by surprise here, there's lot of kind of questions about whether to add a one who's very well known as so transactional deal may, can maybe he wants something in return for supporting a finland and sweden adjoining data. you can certainly expect that the turkish foreign minister taking part in this nato talked in berlin this weekend. he's going to get a lot of attention from his colleagues about why turkey seems to be opposing this at this point. at the g 7 meeting, the de blue chip international is richard walker. thanks so much. we'll ukrainian forces appear close

they are value added to the nato alliance. but they are curious about is how long will it take us to ratify their admission. i told him it is our goal on an overwhelming bipartisan basis is to get that done as rapidly as possible some procedural hoops through which we have to jump may prevent us from being first. but i would love to be first. we are going to do everything on a bipartisan basis to push admission nato as rapidly as possible. >> there is not a day goes by where we do not seem to see a new spike or high gasoline and diesel prices. at the very same time the president's approval ratings hit new lows. i don't think that correlation is any coincidence. the high fuel prices in this country are attributable to this administration's policies. many of which have discouraged oil and gas production, energy production right here in united states. most richly as last week when the president took the gulf in alaska some leases and shut them down. it absolutely makes no sense if you are concerned about the pocketbook paid the a

, and the defense of the nato alliance is primarily an attack on everyone . on anyone is an attack on everyone, this is what is called collective security, this is salt - this is the key moment of the alliance of the modern defense alliance. what is nato and no other effective structure in the world today is more effective, no matter how much we criticize nato . answers decisions are made in nato capitals, they have heard them, the political decision has already been made, they heard pl, volodymyr, what is your short reply, very short, if possible, the first thing is that ukraine is fast approaching everything that it could be in the pdch then of all nato standards, especially it is moving with cosmic steps in the part of military command integration , and military-technical as regards the issues of freedom of speech, democracy, which economies, then yes, these issues will be important, but the situation will develop in this way, eh, in the event of the defeat of russia, it opens for nato and for the whole of europe, a win

he's getting a strong nato alliance and a unified european union. this with german chancellor, olaf schall sat after a 2 day meeting with his, a ministries here in may's about close to berlin with of course the war in ukraine taking center stage, both gas, the prime ministers of finland and of sweden, attended with shawl, saying that germany will support both countries if they decide to join the nato defense alliance, he pledged the germany will continue increasing it's spending on defense with the 2 percent of g, german, g, d, p per year with the special fund of that bond. is that this 100000000000 euros and vice chancellor will but havoc who is also the economy minister did not only refer to the refugees to those fleeing the war in ukraine, but also to the russians who have fled. russia already who planned to flee the country and not come back for them to make it easier to come and to work in germany . meanwhile, germany's opposition leader frivolous matter has paid a visit to keith to meet with ukraine in president vladimir zalinski. that's offic

nato was ready. we employed additional forces to the east of our alliance. today we have over 40,000 troops under nato command, backed by significant air and naval assets. we doubled the number of multinational battle groups from the baltic to the black sea. and we have thousands of troops on high alert. ready to respond to any aggression and defend every inch of nato territory. this is the challenge. to remove any room for misunderstanding or miscalculation in moscow. not to provoke a conflict, but to prevent a conflict and preserve peace. last december president putin presented an ultimatum to nato. he demanded a legally-binding treaty to rewrite the security architecture in europe, to reestablish spheres of influence, to force nato to withdraw from the eastern part of our alliance, and to end nato enlargement. he wanted less nato on his borders. and launched a war. now he is getting more nano on his borders. and more members. finland and sweden's decision to apply for nato membership is historic. it demonstrates that european security will not be dictated

finnish nato membership is win-win for finland, sweden and the nato alliance and europe to be securedchinvasion of ukraine driven in part by his fear, you could call it paranoia being surrounded by nato, a bigger nato, you know, arguably surrounds him more, right? and whether it's justified, that feeling is justified or not, do you fear an enlarged nato will increase the risk of a broader conflict in europe going forward? >> no. and the reason i say this is that at the end of the day it's not about nato. it's about values. the reason putin attacked ukraine is not a fear of nato enlargement but a fear of the europeanization of nato. you have to understand he's against anything that has to do with liberal democracy and freedom. the future of europe, unfortunately, is divided into two. on one side of the iron curtain you'll have an aggressive utalitarian and authoritarian and on the other side about 40 states divided by democracies and international law and foreign cooperation. for fin it's sad because we have 1,340 kilometers of border. we would like to have a sweden type of russia. >> th

i heard almost across the board, very strong support for finland, nato joining the alliance if that's what they choose to do. ah, and i'm very confident that we will reach consensus on that. all 30 nato states have to approve the admission of new members a process that normally takes month at ministers and berlin said they want to speed this up to prevent the so called grace period in which finland and sweden would not be protected by nato's article 5 weeks as an attack on one is an attack on all. it was expected that as soon as finland and sweden applied for nato membership, the process would be smooth and swift. but turkish possession may now have slow this down. no one can say for sure when the tumor flex will be added to this collection steadfast and al jazeera in berlin, sweden and finland have beneficial nato partners since 1994 and have taken part in several need omission since the end of the cold war. let's take a look at what they need to become full members. made oh candidates must be democracies, have an open market economy and be able to contribute militarily to the allian