U.S. Expects Finland, Sweden Will Become NATO Members 'Soon' — Blinken

The top U.S. diplomat on Thursday said he expects Finland and Sweden will become NATO members 'soon', TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Speaking at a news conference with Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto and Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that both countries have taken "concrete steps" to address Turkey's concerns.

"All of that is moving forward. And again, I have every expectation that both will formally become members soon," Blinken said. "As their membership process continues, the United States is fully committed to Finland and Sweden's accession."

The move came as Finland's defence minister Antti Kaikkonen announced in Ankara that his country would consider granting arms export permits to Turkey on a case by case basis — which could resolve a sticking point for Ankara.

Finnish FM Haavisto, in his turn, said discussions with Turkey over the PKK have gone well so far, although there was still not a date for the Turkish parliament to consider the expansion. "Of course, our hope is that this decision should come from Turkey rather sooner than later," he said.

Washignton also believes Turkey's concerns, notably with Sweden over its past support for Kurdish groups that Ankara sees as a threat, would be overcome in the near future.

Sweden this week extradited a convicted member of the Kurdish PKK militant group to Turkey.

Speaking to reporters, Blinken took the opportunity to say that Russia's Vladimir Putin's decision to go to war with Ukraine had backfired if he truly intended to push back on NATO expansion.

"As Sweden and Finland prepare to join NATO, we know that he's failed at weakening our alliance," he said. "Indeed, he's only made NATO stronger and bigger."

28 of 30 countries in the military alliance have already ratified the two nations' entry into NATO, a process that started after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Only Turkey and Hungary have not approved it. Hungary's parliament is expected to vote on the matter early next year.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C