ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th July, 2022) Italy's Council of Ministers has approved a bill on the ratification of Finland's and Sweden's NATO accession protocols, Minister of Regional Affairs and Autonomies Mariastella Gelmini said on Thursday.
"Italy responds with clarity and determination to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and to the threat it poses to the world and to Europe. At the Council of Ministers today we voted to ratify the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO," Gelmini wrote on Facebook (banned in Russia).
�The bill has yet to undergo a procedure of approval in the Italian parliament.
�On Tuesday, the permanent representatives of NATO member states signed accession protocols for Finland and Sweden at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels. All members of the bloc have to ratify the protocols according to their national legislation.
�Russia has repeatedly noted that NATO's actions suggest that it is aimed at confrontation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the expansion of the alliance will not bring security to Europe and that NATO's enlargement is a form of aggression. At the same time, he noted that he does not consider the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO an existential threat to Russia.
