HELSINKI, January 24 – RIA Novosti. Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto reconsidered his position on a possible entry into NATO separately from Sweden in a few hours.
“There has already been an exchange of ideas with Sweden, we said that we will stick to a common line, the countries apply together. Of course, deep down we think about different worlds (different developments. — Approx. ed.), if the country is permanently blocked, but this is not the case yet. There is no plan B, this path is not being considered,” he said after negotiations with his Swedish counterpart.
This morning, Haavisto speculated that the joint Finnish-Swedish bid for NATO membership could be split due to disagreements between Stockholm and Ankara.
The Finnish minister also said that the US and other NATO members are confident that Sweden and Finland will join NATO jointly.
“The provocations that have taken place in Sweden are a blow to the security of Finland and Sweden,” Haavisto said.
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Last Saturday, Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right Hard Deal party, burned a Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, having previously received permission from the Swedish authorities to hold the rally. His actions were condemned by many countries. As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Stockholm should no longer count on Ankara’s support for its application to join NATO.
According to the Anadolu agency, on Wednesday, January 25, the first meeting of the National Security Council of Turkey this year will be held. Its participants will exchange views on the application of two northern European states to join the Alliance in the light of the situation in Sweden, “where there have been recent provocations against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Holy Koran.”
Finland and Sweden filed a joint application in May 2022 to join the North Atlantic Alliance. It has already been ratified by 28 countries out of 30, except for Hungary and Turkey.
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Translation by RJ983
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