 And outside Africa, Finland is set to apply to join NATO with Sweden expected to follow. This move is not sitting well with Russia as Kremlin has threatened retaliatory steps over its neighbour Finland. A foreign ministry statement said the move would seriously damage bilateral relations as well as security and stability in northern Europe. Details in this next report. Finland must join the NATO-military alliance without delay, the country's President and Prime Minister confirmed on Thursday. In a major policy shift for the country, triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Moscow said the move was definitely a threat and that it was ready to respond. Having long-warned Finland of consequences should it choose to join NATO, the Kremlin added that the expansion of the military bloc would not make Europe or the world more stable. But Finland's neighbour Sweden is also close to a decision on asking to join NATO after decades of following a neutral path. The announcement represents a huge setback for Russia, which are partly attempted to justify its invasion of Ukraine as a means to protect itself from NATO's eastwards expansion. The Finnish parliament will debate the announcement on Monday. Foreign Minister Pekka Havisto told EU lawmakers the move would improve security in the Baltic Sea region. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has altered the European and Finnish security environment. However, Finland is not facing an immediate military threat. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia wanted to avoid a direct clash with NATO. But the Moscow was prepared to make a decisive response to anyone that tried to hinder Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. Finland shares an 810-mile border with Russia, though more than double the current frontier between the US-led alliance and Russia, and put NATO guards a few hours' drive from the northern outskirts of St Petersburg. Finland has gradually stacked up its cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty organisation since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. But it had resisted joining NATO in order to maintain friendly relations with its eastern neighbour, until Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. Ahead of Thursday's statement, Finnish President Sallin Inisto said its move to join NATO demonstrated that Russia's actions had it backed into a corner.