By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday backed Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO, paving the way for the full Senate to approve the most significant expansion of the 30-member alliance since the 1990s.
The panel approved the expansion by voice vote, with just one member – Republican Senator Rand Paul – asking to be recorded as “present.”
The documents need to be ratified by all 30 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members before Finland and Sweden can be protected by the defense clause that states that an attack on one member is an attack against all.
Ratification is likely to take up to a year but in the meantime Helsinki and Stockholm can already participate in NATO meetings and have greater access to intelligence.
Finland and Sweden applied for membership in the defense alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but were met with opposition from Turkey, which accused the Nordic countries of supporting groups it deems terrorists.
Finland, Sweden and Turkey signed an accord at the NATO summit in Madrid last month to lift Ankara’s veto in exchange for pledges on counter-terrorism and arms exports. Turkey has said it will closely monitor the implementation of the accord to ratify their membership bids.
Russia has repeatedly warned both countries against joining NATO.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Grant McCool)
