White House: Biden to Sign NATO Accession Documents for Sweden, Finland on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden will sign NATO accession documents for Sweden and Finland on Tuesday, a schedule released by the White House revealed late Monday.

"2:00 PM [18:00 GMT] THE PRESIDENT delivers remarks and signs the Instruments of Ratification for the Accession Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty for the Republic of Finland and Kingdom of Sweden; THE VICE PRESIDENT attends," the schedule reads.

The applications of both countries to join the alliance were previously ratified by the US Senate.

As of now, 23 out of 30 countries of the military bloc have ratified the documents on the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last week.

Sweden and Finland abandoned their long-term neutrality after the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine. Both nations submitted applications to the NATO bloc to join the alliance in May.

At the time, Turkey initially blocked the start of consideration of these applications, but then, on June 29, Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a security memorandum that takes into account all of Ankara's concerns. Turkey later withdrew its objections to the entry of the two northern European countries into NATO.

Russia has repeatedly stated that NATO seeks confrontation. Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted Moscow does not consider the purported admission of Sweden and Finland into NATO an existential threat to Russia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also stated that Moscow remains open to dialogue with NATO, but on an equal footing, while the West should abandon its policy of militarizing the continent.