Tehran (IP)- The Nordic nation, which shares a border with Russia, applied to join the military alliance in the wake of the war in Ukraine last year.

Iran PressEurope: Finland will officially become a member of NATO on Tuesday, the Finnish president's office has announced. 

It is the first enlargement of NATO since North Macedonia joined the alliance in 2020.

The announcement was confirmed by NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, who said the move will make Finland and other members safer.

Russia immediately responded to the announcement, with an official telling state-owned news agency RIA that the country would bolster its forces along its border with Finland.

NATO welcomes Türkiye's plans to approve Finland's membership

Turkey was the last of NATO's 30 members to accept Finland's application.

The country's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier in March that Finland had secured Turkey's blessing after taking concrete steps to keep promises to crack down on groups seen by Ankara as terrorists, and to free up defense exports.

However, Turkey is still blocking the approval of Sweden joining NATO, with the government saying Stockholm has so far failed to sufficiently crack down on similar groups. 

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Sweden, Finland, Turkey have made progress on NATO membership, Sweden says