NATO will increase presence in Sweden and Finland before their accession

NATO will consider ways to ensure the security of Sweden and Finland before joining the bloc, including by strengthening its military presence in the region, Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, said at a press conference following an informal meeting of the foreign ministers of the member countries of the alliance. A transcript of the speech is available on the NATO website.

He added that NATO will try to speed up the process of ratification of countries as much as possible. However, Stoltenberg stressed, there will be a certain period of time between the application and full membership.

“Obviously, the membership of Finland and Sweden matters to NATO. We will consider ways to ensure security guarantees, including by increasing NATO's presence in the region, in the Baltic region, in Finland and Sweden and around them, of course, in close consultation and agreement between Finland and Sweden," the head of NATO said.

On May 15, the Finnish government officially announced its decision to join the North Atlantic Alliance. The country will apply after consultations in parliament. The head of the Finnish Foreign Ministry, Pekka Haavisto, said that this would take place on May 18. Sweden may apply for NATO membership on May 16, the newspaper Expressen wrote.

Niinistö said he was ready to discuss Finnish membership in NATO with Erdogan Politics

As Reuters wrote, the applications of Sweden and Finland to join the bloc will be approved either before or during the summit of the North Atlantic Alliance, which is due to be held June 29-30 in Madrid, the agency reported. After that, it will take a year to ratify the decision on membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO.

Several countries of the alliance (including the USA , Germany, Croatia, Romania, Greece, Czech Republic) have declared their readiness to support the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO. However, on May 13, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara "does not see any positive" in the plans of Finland and Sweden to become NATO members. On May 14, the Turkish Foreign Minister said that the Turkish people asked the authorities to block the entry of the two countries into the organization.

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Later, Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin explained that the Kurdistan Workers' Party, designated in Turkey as a terrorist organization, "is engaged in fundraising and recruiting in Europe", especially in Sweden. According to him, Ankara "has not closed the door" for Sweden and Finland to join NATO, but wants negotiations with the Nordic countries to curb terrorist activities. Kalın called it "a matter of Turkish national security".

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said he was "confusing" by Ankara's statements, as Erdogan had previously told him in a telephone conversation that he would support Finland's entry into NATO. Niinistö said he was ready to negotiate with Erdogan on this issue. On May 15, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlich-Radman said that Ankara, Stockholm and Helsinki were already negotiating, there was hope for a "good result."

Moscow criticized Finland's intention to join NATO. President Vladimir Putin called such a scenario a mistake, assuring that Moscow does not pose a threat to Helsinki, and such a move could negatively affect relations between the countries. According to presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Finland's accession to NATO will become an absolute threat to Russia. Russian Deputy Chairman to the UN Dmitry Polyansky added that these countries would become a possible target for a strike, provided that NATO units are deployed on their territory.

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