included over 8,000 Swedish army and air force volunteers. Sweden also accepted and cared for a host of Finnish "war"-children during World War II. After the war, Sweden had a clear headstart in the post-war economical development, much due to its neutrality in the war. In September 1944, Finland relocated elements of its signals intelligence capabilities to Sweden as part of the Stella Polaris operation, allowing Sweden access to intercepted Soviet communications in exchange for security in the event of a renewed Soviet invasion of Finland. Postwar era It is an old tradition for the first official foreign visit of a new prime minister from either country to visit the other. However, in June 2014, the newly elected Finnish prime minister Alexander Stubb broke with tradition and used his first official visit abroad to visit Estonia. Since then, Antti Rinne also made his first official visit to Estonia but Juha Sipilä and Sanna Marin both made their first official visit to Sweden. In 2014, the two countries announced a special defense partnership between them. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit Europe in 2020 and 2021, Finland and Sweden chose to respond to it in differing ways. Sweden implemented generally laxer restrictions while Finland closed its borders among other things. This is due to the countries' differing histories: Finland's traumatic experiences during World War II have left their mark on Finnish society and the country has thus maintained a larger preparedness for crisis, whereas Sweden cut back on its preparedness after the end of the Cold War and decided to used the funds for other purposes. What, if any, impact this will have on official state relations is unclear, but officials in both countries have had to comment on public concerns relating to Finnish–Swedish relations in the countries' medias. European Union Both countries became members of the European Union in 1995. NATO Both countries had not pursued NATO membership since 1949. However, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the two countries applied for NATO membership on 18 May 2022. However, the two countries faced a membership veto from Turkey over its alleged support for the PKK. See also Foreign relations of Finland Foreign relations of Sweden Finland–Sweden border Sweden Finns Finnish Swedes 1995 enlargement of the European Union Finland–NATO relations Sweden–NATO relations Finland–Russia relations Russia–Sweden relations Finland–Turkey relations Sweden–Turkey relations Accession of Finland to NATO Accession of Sweden to