NATO invites Sweden and Finland to join

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STORY: NATO invited Sweden and Finland to join the military alliance on Wednesday (June 29) in one of the biggest shifts in European security in decades.

The traditionally neutral Nordic countries made their bids to join following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

NATO also agreed formally treat Russia as the “most significant and direct threat to the allies’ security,” according to a summit statement.

President Joe Biden said the U.S-led alliance would be ready to deal with threats from all directions.

"We're going to approve a new NATO strategic concept and reaffirm the unity and determination of our alliance to defend every inch of NATO territory. And article five is sacrosanct, and we mean it when we say an attack against one is an attack against all. Every inch.”

He also said the U.S. would ramp up forces in Europe, in response to threats from Russia.

Biden’s pledge came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeared at the summit virtually to appeal for more weapons.

“The question is who will be the next for Russia? Moldova or Baltic countries or Poland? The answer is all of them.”

The bloc’s 30 allies took the decision to admit Sweden and Finland at their summit in Madrid.

Ratification in allied parliaments is likely to take up to a year.

But once it is done, Finland and Sweden will be covered by NATO's Article 5 collective defense clause, putting them under the United States' protective nuclear umbrella.

Initially Turkey vetoed the Nordic countries’ bids to join, due to concerns about terrorism.

But President Tayyip Erdogan gave them the green light on Tuesday (June 28) evening, after agreeing to a series of security measures with his Finnish and Swedish counterparts.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded in 1949 to defend against the Soviet threat.

Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine - which it calls a ‘special operation’ - gave the organization a new impetus after failures in Afghanistan and internal discord during the era of former U.S. President Donald Trump.