Today marks a milestone as Finland officially becomes the 31st member of NATO. The Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin will not take charge and Petteri Orpo, whose National Coalition Party came first in the recent election, will oversee the new era for Helsinki. As a direct consequence of Putin's invasion, Finland and Sweden applied to join the alliance. While Finland's accession brings to the alliance a well-trained, highly equipped army numbering up to 280,000 soldiers once fully mobilised, Sweden's bid is still pending, as Turkey is still blocking it. However, progress on Stockholm's application is expected after the Turkish election in May. This NATO meeting is particularly focussed on Russia's illegal and brutal war against Ukraine with ministers from the NATO military alliance gathering in Brussels for a two-day meeting. China's growing alignment with Russia will also be discussed as both countries are challenging the international order and democratic values. Meanwhile, as President Macron and Ursula von der Leyen prepare to travel to Beijing, they'll meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and seek to lure him out of Putin's warm embrace.