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
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,
brussels. of course, russia has already reacted strongly to fill for land joining nato. what do you make of these comments in the past few moments from the kremlin? i think the are moments from the kremlin? i think they are predictable. moments from the kremlin? i think they are predictable. they - moments from the kremlin? i think they are predictable. they see - moments from the kremlin? i think they are predictable. they see this | they are predictable. they see this as an escalation. they say they will take countermeasures because of finland s membership of the nato alliance. one of the questions here thatis alliance. one of the questions here that is being asked is, will this mean, for example, that nato troops from other countries could be stationed on rotation inside finland itself? we have already seen finland taking part in nato exercise, alongside sweden, which is still not alongside sweden, which is still not a member. but it would be different, i think, a member. but it