limits in hand luggage. a ceremony is due to be held in brussels within the next few hours to officially welcome nato s newest member. this nato s newest member. is the scene live in brusse where this is the scene live in brussels, where officials are arriving to witness the raising of the finished flag here. finland has abandoned its long standing commitment to neutrality in response to russia s invasion of ukraine. the head of the military alliance, jens stoltenberg, told reporters it was a historic day; he said it would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. in response, moscow says it will strengthen its military presence in the region. let s listen to what mr stoltenberg had to say. in a few hours we will welcome finland as the slst member of our alliance. this will make finland safer and nato stronger. on this very day in 1949 the washington treaty, nato s founding treaty, was signed in washington and it s hard to imagine a better way of celebrating our anniversary
members were in western europe, though since 1997, 1a eastern european nations those appearing in pink have taken the decision tojoin the alliance. russia is demanding no more eastward expansion and it has opposed ukraine s request to join the alliance. finland applied to join the military bloc last year, along with its neighbour sweden. finland s membership is one of the most important moments in nato s recent history given the current war in ukraine and the fact finland is a country with a long land border with russia. let s go live now to brussels and joining me is our defence correspondent jonathan beale. in the past few moments we have had more reaction from the kremlin, he said it would be forced to take counter measures to ensure russia s security. a kremlin spokesperson said helsinki was not removed to join the bloc was an encroachment on russia s security and said the structure of nato was hostile towards russia. jonathan is in
hello, you re with bbc news. a historic day as finland is to become the sist member of nato later, a decision prompted by russia s invasion of ukraine. this will make finland safer and make this will make finland safer and make us this will make finland safer and make us stronger. this this will make finland safer and make us stronger. this will make finland safer and make us stronger. this is the scene live at nato make us stronger. this is the scene live at nato headquarters, - make us stronger. this is the scene live at nato headquarters, where i make us stronger. this is the scene | live at nato headquarters, where the finnish flag will be raised shortly at a ceremony to mark the day. russia s defence minister sergei shoigu says finland s accession to nato will force russia to take measures to ensure its security. former president donald trump arrives in new york ahead of his appearance in court facing criminal charges. a passenger train crash in the netherlands kills one per
but also i expect that allies will start to develop a more long term programme to assist and support ukraine, to help them develop with nato allies and move from the soviet era standards doctrines to nato standards and move closer to the euro atlantic family. so, why is this such a significant moment for both finland and nato? let s take a look back. the north atlantic treaty organization was formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the us, the uk, canada and france. the organisation s original goal was to challenge russian expansion in europe after world war two. it currently has 30 members, who agree to help one another if they come under attack. many of these countries are in europe, the original nato
member of our alliance. this will make finland safer and nato stronger. on this very day in 1949 the washington treaty, nato s founding treaty, was signed in washington and it s hard to imagine a better way of celebrating our anniversary than to have a finland becoming a full member of the alliance. nato s foreign ministers meet at a pivotal time for our security. we see that president putin s war of aggression against ukraine grinds on. we will meet in the nato ukraine commission with the foreign minister where we will address how to sustain and ramp up support from nato allies to ukraine. both the urgent needs,