The leaders of Finland and Sweden say they will jointly submit their NATO applications.

Leaders of Finland and Sweden confirmed on Tuesday that the Nordic nations would jointly submit their applications for NATO membership this week.

“Sweden has remained our most important partner,” President Sauli Niinisto of Finland said in an appearance with King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. “Our security policies have long been similar, and we now take our steps together.”

Mr. Niinisto arrived in Sweden on a long-planned state visit that has acquired major symbolic importance since the two nations decided in recent days to cast aside decades of strategic neutrality and seek NATO membership in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a speech to Sweden’s Parliament, Mr. Niinisto said that Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership would bolster the Nordic nations, which already “form a strong northern quintet.”

“We are adding security to a very successful brand,” Mr. Niinisto said. Read more

@nytimes