Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin at the EU summit in Brussels. File photoMOSCOW, June 14 Finland and Sweden's NATO accession process could «freeze in place» if an agreement with Turkey is not reached before the alliance's summit in Madrid, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin told the press conference in Stockholm.» I think it is very important to move forward at this stage. If we do not resolve these issues before Madrid, there is a risk that the process will freeze in place … We do not know how much, but it may freeze for some time,» Marin is quoted by Agence France-Presse.NATO Secretary General could not give a date for Sweden and Finland to join the alliance The Premier stressed that Finland takes Turkey's concerns «seriously» and wants to consider them and «if there are any misunderstandings, correct them.» «Of course, we take everyone very seriously issues and are negotiating, but I also believe that Turkey also has a responsibility to try to find solutions at this stage,» Marin added. According to the prime minister, Turkey has previously stated that Finland and Sweden «will gladly be admitted to NATO.» , but Ankara changed its position after the applications were submitted. Finland and Sweden, against the backdrop of the events in Ukraine on May 18, submitted applications to join the alliance to the NATO Secretary General. Turkey has blocked the start of the process of consideration of these applications. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara cannot say «yes» to the membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO, because it cannot believe their assurances about relations with representatives of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, banned in Turkey. Moscow has repeatedly noted that the alliance is aimed at confrontation. As the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov emphasized, further expansion of the bloc will not bring greater security to Europe. At the same time, he does not consider the entry of Sweden and Finland into this organization an existential threat to Russia. Vladimir Putin himself noted that abandoning the traditional policy of Helsinki's military neutrality would be erroneous, since there are no threats to Finland. joining NATO without Sweden
