Finland to be NATO member

Finland will, meanwhile, officially become a member of the NATO military alliance on Tuesday, the Finnish president’s office said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also told reporters in Brussels on Monday that “tomorrow we will welcome Finland as the 31st member”.

In response to Finland joining NATO, Russia will reportedly strengthen its military capacity.

“We will strengthen our military potential in the western and northwestern direction,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told RIA Novosti news agency.

“In the event that the forces and resources of other NATO members are deployed in Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia’s military security.”

Finland has a 1,300km (810-mile) border with Russia, which will roughly double the military alliance’s frontier with Moscow.

In Slovakia, the Czech and Slovak prime ministers urged the European Union to exert “targeted pressure” on the Kremlin by sticking to sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine last year.

The Czech and Slovak governments, led by Petr Fiala and Eduard Heger, respectively, met in the western Slovak city of Trencin.

“It is important for the EU and its partners to continue targeted pressure on the Russian Federation and thoroughly implement the sanctions,” the premiers said in a statement.

Allies should also “prevent bypassing the sanctions and create mechanisms to punish those responsible for crimes related to this aggression”, they added.