18 Republicans — including MTG, Matt Gaetz, and Lauren Boebert — voted against Sweden and Finland joining NATO

Eighteen Republican lawmakers in a Monday vote opposed Finland and Sweden joining NATO.

The vote passed easily, but "nay" voters included several far-right GOP members.

The House vote was symbolic; the US portion of the approval process takes place in the Senate.

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Eighteen Republican lawmakers voted against the US allowing Finland and Sweden to join NATO.

Among the dissenters in the Monday vote were some of the party's furthest-right members, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Matt Gaetz of Florida, and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.

The vote was a symbolic one to express support from the House for the applications — the formal process by which the US can ratify new NATO members takes place in the Senate.

The House bill passed easily with 394 votes, leaving the 18 Republicans in a small minority even among their own party.

Nineteen US lawmakers — 17 Republicans and two Democrats — didn't vote.

Finland and Sweden applied in mid-May, turning away from decades of neutrality in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Both countries have an uneasy proximity to Russia.

Each of the 30 NATO member states must approve the addition of any members. The US portion of that is driven the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has yet to decide formally but had been urged strongly by the White House to give quick approval.

Finland has a long land border with Russia and repelled a brutal Soviet invasion in a 1940s conflict known as the Winter War.

NATO formally invited the countries to join at the end of June, saying it would fast-track the process. Once a country is in NATO, all other members of the alliance are obliged to go to war if it is invaded.

The move has proved infuriating to President Vladimir Putin, who had cited his opposition to NATO expansion as one reason for invading Ukraine in the first place.

The 18 no votes are another sign of the ongoing pro-Russia shift in the right of the party ignited by Donald Trump.

Gaetz, Greene, and Boebert are among GOP members who repeatedly voted against US military and humanitarian support to Ukraine.

They also are among the 63 Republicans who, in April, voted against a resolution expressing support for NATO and its "founding democratic principles."

Greene, Gaetz, and Kentucky's Thomas Massie were the only three representatives who opposed moves in April to restrict trade with Russia.

Editor's note: Shortly after publication this story was updated to clarify that the House vote was symbolic and not part of the formal ratification process. A reference to lawmakers voting to "block" Sweden and Finland from joining NATO was amended to instead say they voted "against" the process.