Finnish parliament votes overwhelmingly in favour of NATO membership

Lawmakers in Finland on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favour of joining NATO as a deterrent against Russian aggression, paving the way for an application to be submitted in the coming days.

A total of 188 of 200 members of parliament voted in favour of NATO membership, a dramatic turnaround from Finland's military non-alignment policy dating back more than 75 years, prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Finland spent more than a century as part of the Russian empire until it gained independence in 1917.