The Finnish government expects to submit a NATO membership proposal to the country's parliament by mid-April.

According to Reuters, the country began to aggressively move towards membership after the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis.

In Finland, public support for NATO membership was 60 percent in March, up 34 percent from autumn 2021, according to Newsweek. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said that Russia is not the neighbor we thought it was and Russia's invasion of Ukraine and threats against Finland have irreversibly changed relations between countries.

Although Finland is not currently a member of NATO, it maintains close ties to the alliance. Finnish military units assist in NATO operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo, participate in military exercises with NATO forces and are part of the NATO Response Force.

Support for NATO membership has also grown in Sweden, a country that has not been at war since 1814, but Sweden is not moving as fast towards membership as Finland, according to Reuters.