On Monday, US Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he hopes the US Congress will vote on Finland's Nato application "as soon as possible," and before the legislators break for a recess in August.
He said that there was strong bipartisan support for Finland's Nato application, calling the international organisation "the world's most successful military alliance."
McConnell made the comments in Helsinki, following a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, alongside a delegation of other Republican US senators on Monday to discuss issues including Finland's security issues amid its application to join Nato.
"Finland brings a lot to the alliance. Frankly, their participation strengthens the alliance significantly and it's a great honour to happen to be here when your request for admission is official. The goal in the United States is to approve that as rapidly as possible," McConnell said.
McConnell noted that Finland's decision to apply for Nato membership was "obviously brought about" by Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Niinistö said he had a "good discussion" withMcConnell and Republican Senators John Barrasso, Susan Collins and John Cornyn. The group discussed Finland's security policy issues, issues surrounding US support for Finland's aims to join Nato as well as Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Over the weekend, the US delegation visited Ukraine and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The senator also noted that he expected the US senate would approve a 40 billion dollar aid package for Ukraine later this week.