World News | Defense Minister: Finland may join NATO before Sweden

MUNICH, Feb. 18 (AP) Finland will not wait for Sweden to join NATO if the Turkish government blocks its Nordic neighbor from joining, Finland’s defense minister said Saturday.

Mikko Savola told The Associated Press on Saturday that Finland would prefer both countries to join the union together, but would not block the process if Turkey decided to ratify Finland instead of Sweden, as it had warned.

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“No, no. Then we will join,” Savora said in an interview on the sidelines of the Munich security conference.

Finland and Sweden have insisted on joining NATO together since breaking decades of nonalignment following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. But Turkey is unwilling to accept Sweden unless it steps up pressure on Kurdish exile groups, making it more likely that the two countries will have to join the alliance at different paces.

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“Sweden is our closest partner,” Savola said. “Almost every week our Wehrmacht exercises together and so on. It’s a very deep cooperation and we trust each other completely. But it’s in Türkiye’s hands now.”

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin made similar remarks at a panel meeting in Munich later on Saturday.

“Of course, we cannot influence how some countries ratify, but our message is that we are willing to join, and would rather join together,” she said.

All NATO countries except Turkey and Hungary have given the green light for both countries to join the alliance. Hungary has said it will do so soon, but Turkey says Sweden is not doing enough to address Turkey’s national security concerns, causing a rift within NATO as the United States and other allies seek to build a united front against Russia.

In recent weeks, NATO officials have played down the importance of joining both countries at the same time.

“The main question is not whether Finland and Sweden join at the same time. The main question is Finland and Sweden joining as soon as possible and, of course, whether Turkey decides to ratify both protocols or just one,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Munich on Friday.

Savola said he hoped Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border with Russia, would become a member of the alliance ahead of a NATO summit in July. Until then, Finland has no concerns about the security situation, Savola said, noting that Finland has a wartime conscript force of 280,000 troops, 95 percent of whom are reservists, and plans to buy F-35 fighter jets from the United States, while also Invest in its navy and army.

“We are strong and our will to defend our country is strong,” Savola said.

Finland supported Ukraine with arms from the very beginning of the war. So far, the military’s support amounts to 600 million euros, Savora said. The country has said it will join a joint European effort to deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, but has not specified whether it will hand over its own tanks.

“There are many ways to join. Of course, there are also those tanks, training, spare parts and logistics,” he said. “We will be making these decisions in Finland very soon.” (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)