Ljubljana - The Slovenian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Slovenia fully respected and supported the decision of Sweden and Finland to join NATO, labelling the two countries as the closest partners of the alliance.

Issuing the statement as Sweden and Finland today submitted official applications to join NATO, the ministry said that "NATO's door must remain open to European countries that want to join and meet the criteria for membership."

It added that "Slovenia has always been a supporter of NATO's open-door policy and advocates the sovereign right of every country to an independent foreign policy, including integration into defence alliances."

This comes as the ambassadors of Sweden and Finland to NATO presented NATO membership applications to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels. The hitherto neutral countries decided to join NATO in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In order to join the alliance, new members must get consent from all 30 member states of the alliance. For the time being, their membership is opposed by Turkey, which alleges that Sweden and Finland support terrorist groups.