The U.S. and its allies are trying to fast-track Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership in what would be a remarkable diplomatic and security defeat for Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.

Finland’s president and prime minister said Thursday, the day after Helsinki signed a joint security pact with the United Kingdom and Sweden, that the country “must apply” for NATO membership “without delay.”

Sweden is expected to announce its own bid to join NATO in the coming days, and the security pact seeks to warn Russia off taking action against the two Nordic countries as the path to membership plays out. Finland has an 830-mile border with Russia.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will join the foreign ministers of Finland, Sweden and NATO countries for a meeting in Berlin on Saturday, where they are likely to lay the groundwork to offer membership during a leaders-level summit in Madrid in June.

“The United States would support a NATO application by Finland and/or Sweden, should they choose to apply,” a State Department spokesperson confirmed to The Hill.

“Both Finland and Sweden are close and valued defense partners of the United States, and of NATO.”

Karen Donfried, assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, told lawmakers Thursday that the discussions in Berlin are likely to include how NATO members can help provide Finland and Sweden a security pact in the intervening months.

After ascension, the two countries will be protected by NATO’s Article V mutual defense pact, which says an attack on one member is an attack on all.

Donfried said Finland and Sweden’s turn towards NATO “marks another piece of the mounting evidence of what a strategic failure [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is suffering today.”

“I am struck by how so much of what Putin says he was seeking to avoid, he has brought about.”

Putin views NATO as an existential threat to Russia’s security and has used Ukraine’s close relationship with the alliance as one of the reasons to justify his orders to invade the country on Feb. 24.

Moscow slammed Helsinki’s announcement on Thursday, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling reporters that Finland has joined in “unfriendly steps” alongside the European Union “and is a reason for corresponding symmetrical responses on our side,” but did not detail those responses.

Finnish politicians warned that Russia could cut off gas to the country as soon as Friday, Reuters reported, citing local media. Russia had cut off gas to Poland and Bulgaria last month in response to Western sanctions.

“I certainly think that Finland in particular, having been a part of the Russian Empire, is right to start considering their security,” Daniel Fried, distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council and former U.S. ambassador to Poland, told a British news program on Thursday.

“The Russians are perfectly capable of harassment, border incidents, all manner of difficulties, especially if Putin succeeds in subjugating Ukraine, which happily, thanks to the reaction of the U.K., U.S. and Europe, is less likely than it seemed two months ago.”

NATO expansion will require each of the 30 member-state governments to ratify Finland and Sweden’s ascension. Support for Helsinki in NATO was quickly announced by member states including the U.K., France, Germany, Belgium and Iceland, to name a few.

Full story at The Hill