“Finnish and Swedish membership in NATO requires a certain stage, and both countries must obtain the consent of 30 allied countries in order to become members,” said Admiral Rob Power, head of the NATO Military Committee.

“It is important that at this stage the two countries have security guarantees, but these guarantees are not the same as those contained in Article 5 because the two countries are not yet members,” Bauer said in a press statement after the meeting of NATO leaders. employees in the Belgian capital Brussels. “As we all know, there are countries that are negotiating with Finland and Sweden to provide security guarantees,” he added.

Both Turkish and Russian authorities oppose this entry, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday: “We have informed our friends of our refusal to join Finland and Sweden in NATO, and we adhere to this position.” The Russian Foreign Ministry also stated that “Moscow will have to take retaliatory military-technical measures, which will be determined in the event that Finland and Sweden join the alliance.”

It is noteworthy that the ambassadors of Sweden and Finland to the European Union in Brussels submitted to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg an application from their countries to join the alliance.