Biden to Host Finland, Sweden Leaders at White House on Thursday

U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with the leaders of Finland and Sweden on Thursday as both countries are poised to apply for NATO membership.

Biden will hold talks with Swedish PM Magdalena Andersson and Finland President Sauli Niinisto to discuss the addition of Finland and Sweden to the NATO alliance and how it would affect Russia.

"The leaders will discuss Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO applications and European security, as well as strengthening our close partnerships across a range of global issues and support for Ukraine," Jean-Pierre said.

This transformation of Europe's security landscape was triggered by Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine

On his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed that Moscow will take measures in response to the expansion of NATO’s military infrastructure.

“The expansion of military infrastructure to that territory [Finland and Sweden] will undoubtedly trigger our counter-reaction,” Putin said. “Generally speaking, this problem is being created from scratch. We will respond to this accordingly.”