Finland officially became a member of the NATO defense alliance on Tuesday, ending years of "military non-alignment."
The Nordic country's historic decision to apply to NATO — prompted by its neighbor Russia's war against Ukraine — is one of the biggest geopolitical changes in Europe to come about as a direct consequence of the conflict.
On Tuesday, Finland's president, Sauli Niinisto, traveled to NATO's headquarters in Brussels to complete the accession process and Finland's flag was raised among those of its fellow members.
Turkey, the last holdout on Helsinki's accession to the military coalition, gave its approval on Finland's membership bid on March 30. Sweden's membership bid, made at the same time as Finland's, is still awaiting approval.
In other news, the husband of a woman Russian authorities have accused of assassinating pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky said Monday that he believes his wife was "framed" and didn't understand what the bust was before giving it to Tatarsky in a St. Petersburg cafe, where it exploded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Tatarsky with the Order of Courage "for courage and bravery in doing his professional duty" as a "war correspondent."