US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on May 27 expressed confidence that Finland and Sweden would soon be admitted to NATO.
Another year: Finland expects NATO membership no earlier than December
How quickly will the process of ratifying the application of Helsinki and Stockholm to join the alliance go?
“The United States fully supports the entry of Finland and Sweden into the alliance. I remain confident that both countries will soon become NATO allies,” he said at a joint press conference with Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto.
Blinken added that “Finland and Sweden more than meet the democratic, military, economic criteria for membership.”
He also noted that Washington expects that progress in the process of studying the applications of the two countries will be both before the NATO summit in Madrid in June, and directly during it.
Earlier that day, Timofei Bordachev, Program Director of the Valdai Club, Research Director of the HSE Central Institute of Economics and Research, suggested that the process of Sweden and Finland joining the alliance could take a long time or not take place at all.
Meanwhile, on May 24, a group of American congressmen pointed out to US President Joe Biden the need to admit Sweden and Finland to NATO as soon as possible.
On May 18, Sweden and Finland officially applied to join NATO. The ambassadors of the two countries handed them over to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at headquarters in Brussels. According to the Secretary General, the alliance is counting on quick steps to formalize the membership of these countries in the bloc.
The Russian Foreign Ministry reacted critically to the statement by the authorities of Finland and Sweden about plans to join the alliance, noting that in this way the security of these countries would not be ensured. Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 16 during the anniversary summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization noted that the expansion of NATO is artificial.