Italy to 'fully' back Finland, Sweden's joining of NATO

Italy will "fully support" applications from Finland and Sweden's to join the North Atlantic Treaty NATO, foreign minister Luigi Di Maio announced.

"On Saturday and Sunday in Berlin we will have an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers, to which the ministers of Finland and Sweden are invited," Di Maio stated.

At the meeting, Italy "will fully support Finland and Sweden's entry into NATO," Di Maio underlined.

"It is an ambition borne of a sovereign decision by individual states in accordance with the principles and values of a defensive alliance," he said.

NATO is "a great Alliance that defends the countries which belong to it and which first and foremost has ensured peace for decades and will continue to do", Di Maio continued.

Finland's leaders announced on Thursday the country's plan to apply for NATO membership "without delay," saying NATO membership would strengthen Finland’s security.

Sweden is also expected to apply to join NATO in an expansion of the Alliance that Russia's president Vladimir Putin hoped to avoid by invading Ukraine in late February.