The U.S. Senate ratified adding Sweden and Finland to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a move aimed at bolstering the military alliance after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The vote was 95 to 1, far exceeding the two-thirds majority required for the approval of treaties. If the ascension wins approval from all current members of the alliance, Finland will join Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland as NATO countries that share a land border with Russia.
The vote comes more than five months after Russian President Vladimir Putin shook the world order with his invasion of neighboring Ukraine. In response, NATO has moved to offer more protection to the exposed Baltic countries along the alliance’s eastern border.