NATO headquarters building in Brussels. File photoWASHINGTON, Apr 28 The US is awaiting a decision by Sweden and Finland on possible NATO membership before the alliance's upcoming June summit in Madrid, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Thursday. «I can't tell you any timeline. Now this issue is being very actively considered by both countries. As you know, the NATO summit will take place soon. I expect that we will receive specific information by the time it starts,» Blinken said during hearings in the US House of Representatives, answering the question of when, according to him, the two Scandinavian countries intend to decide on the possibility of NATO membership. The head of American diplomacy stressed that if Finland and Sweden choose to join the alliance, The United States will strongly support their applications. Finland and Sweden have started talking about the possibility of abandoning their long-term neutrality and joining NATO against the backdrop of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. The head of the alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, noted that the alliance would be glad to see Finland and Sweden in its ranks and provide them with the opportunity to quickly join. NATO expects these countries to make their own decisions about possible membership in the coming «months and weeks,» US Permanent Representative to NATO Julianne Smith said. She added that the United States would welcome the accession of these countries to the alliance. aimed at confrontation. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov stated that further expansion of the alliance would not bring greater security to Europe, NATO has an aggressive character. At the same time, he noted that he did not consider the possible entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO an existential threat to Russia.
