(The Center Square) – Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs heralded the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization during a Wednesday morning reception at the state Capitol honoring the countries of Finland and Sweden.

Finland officially joined the Western defensive military alliance in April, bringing the number of member states to 31. Sweden is now set to join neighboring Finland as a new NATO member after Turkey’s president withdrew a series of objections.

“I just want to thank you all for coming and joining me in celebrating the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to include two new members with strong Washington connections,” Hobbs said from the state reception room at the Legislative Building in Olympia.

Hobbs continued, “We’re here today to recognize our partners, Sweden and Finland. And their decision to join NATO was brave, wise and it was a response to Russia’s shocking invasion of Ukraine. In time of unprovoked aggression, we must build strong alliances.”

On Feb. 24, 2022, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine from the north, east and south in what Russian President Vladimir Putin called a “special military operation” ostensibly meant to protect ethnic Russians, as well as prevent Ukraine from joining NATO.

The invasion instead drove non-aligned Finland and Sweden to abandon their neutrality and seek entry into NATO.

“And I know the value of NATO first hand, having served on the ground in Kosovo, and also being part of a NATO exchange program where I got to be an operations officer for an Estonian infantry battalion,” Hobbs said. “I was in the field for two weeks.”

During his active duty U.S. Army career, Hobbs deployed to Kosovo and Iraq to participate in the security of elections during those tours, including distributing nomination ballot boxes in Iraq.

His time in the Army also saw him serve at the National Security Agency and graduate from the Department of Defense Information School, where he studied and analyzed cyberattacks and information warfare.

Hobbs is a lieutenant colonel in the Washington National Guard.

“The reason I am doing this is to show our allies and adversaries that support for NATO does not stop at our nation’s capital, but permeates to the grassroots level here in Washington state,” he said. “Washingtonians owe their freedom, their security and economic prosperity to military alliances like NATO."