US State Department building in Washington DC. File photoWASHINGTON, Jun 8 The US is confident that Sweden and Finland will be able to address Turkish concerns about the two Scandinavian nations joining NATO, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried said Wednesday. Finland and Sweden against the background of the events in Ukraine on May 18 handed over to the NATO Secretary General an application for joining the alliance. Turkey has blocked the start of the process of consideration of these applications. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara cannot say «yes» to Finland and Sweden's membership in NATO, because it cannot believe their assurances about relations with representatives of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey. «Of course, we understand Turkey's concerns regarding the terrorist threat. Together At the same time, we are confident that in the course of the upcoming contacts, these countries will be able to resolve Ankara's concerns, and the process of the two countries' accession to NATO will continue,» Donfried said during a special briefing at the State Department site. Russia has repeatedly noted that NATO is 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 entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO an existential threat to Russia. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that abandoning Finland's traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake, since there are no threats to its security. We are very NATO. What will happen if the Swedes and Finns join an alliance
