Sweden, Finland make progress with Turkey on NATO bid

Sweden’s foreign minister said that his country along with Finland, made good progress in their agreement with Turkey. The agreement was to secure Ankara’s approval of the two countries to join the NATO alliance.

Speaking to reporters on the second day of the NATO ministerial meeting, Swedish foreign minister Tobias Billstrom said that there has been progress on the two countries’ agreement with Turkey following a trilateral meeting. Sweden and Finland filed joint applications to join the NATO alliance due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but ran into opposition from Turkey over security concerns.

“We had a very good bilateral yesterday between Sweden, Finland, and Turkey and I felt after this meeting that there is progress. We are moving forward,” Billstrom told reporters.

On Wednesday, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was offering to help Ukraine’s neighboring countries, Moldova, Georgia, and Bosnia. Stoltenberg added that the three countries were facing pressure from Russia.

“If there is one lesson from Ukraine is that we need to support it now,” Stoltenberg said during a news conference.

The two-day summit in Bucharest by the ministers of the alliance pledged to help Ukraine cope with what Stoltenberg has described as Russia’s weaponization of the winter season and to help sustain Ukraine’s military campaign.

Russia has said that Ukraine must meet its demands if it wants to end the suffering of its people as Russia continues its strikes on infrastructure. Ukraine said it would not stop fighting back until Russia makes a complete withdrawal from Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during his nightly address that the war would only end when Ukraine wins or when Russia wants the war to end.

Estonian foreign minister Urmas Reinsalu said that NATO is fully aware that Russia wants to take control of the Western Balkan region as the ministers sought to give assurances to the three countries.

“The message is clear, that all NATO allies are aware that the beast also wants to take control of the Western Balkans, and we need – by practical, deliverable support, to help these countries survive,” Reinsalu told Reuters following the ministerial meeting, noting that for the countries in the particular region, the “center point of gravity” is the outcome of the war.