Albania has officially provided on Thursday its consent regarding the accession of Sweden and Finland into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO).

Following government meeting, Albania's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Olta Xhaçka announced that protocols for NATO accession of Sweden and Finland have been approved in principle.

“In today's meeting we approved in principle the protocols of NATO accession in Sweden and Finland.

We have formally agreed to the enlargement of the Alliance and the inclusion of these two countries”, said Minister Xhaçka.

Earlier on, the CNN reported that Finland and Sweden are poised to end decades of neutrality by joining NATO, a dramatic evolution in European security and geopolitics sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The two Nordic nations had long kept the military alliance at an arm's length, even while eying Russia to their east with caution.

But Moscow's assault on Ukraine has sparked renewed security concern across the region, and the leaders of each country have signaled their desire to join the bloc after more than 75 years of military non-alignment.