What you need to know about Finland, Sweden and NATO

What you need to know about Finland, Sweden and NATO
By Joshua Berlinger, CNN
Updated 0706 GMT (1506 HKT) May 14, 2022
CNN diplomatic editor analyzes Finland's statement on joining NATO 04:14
(CNN)Finland is on the cusp of joining NATO while Sweden is on the verge of following suit.

Here's what you need to know about how the war in Ukraine pushed the two Nordic states closer to the US-backed alliance, and what comes next.
Why haven't Finland and Sweden already joined NATO?
While other Nordic countries like Norway, Denmark and Iceland were original members of the alliance, Sweden and Finland did not join the pact for historic and geopolitical reasons.
Both Finland, which declared independence from Russia in 1917 after the Bolshevik revolution, and Sweden adopted neutral foreign policy stances during the Cold War, refusing to align with the Soviet Union or the United States.
For Finland, this proved more difficult, as it shared a massive border with an authoritarian superpower. To keep the peace, Finns adopted a process some call "Finlandization," in which leaders acceded to Soviet demands from time to time.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/14/europe/sweden-finland-nato-next-steps-intl/index.html