NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg . File photoWASHINGTON, Jun 22 The US is pushing for Finland, Sweden and Turkey to reach an agreement on NATO enlargement before NATO summit (June 28-30), US Senate aide says Karen Donfried, United States Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, was asked whether the United States hopes to reach an agreement between Finland, Sweden and Turkey before the NATO summit in Madrid.
NATO will announce a new alignment of forces in Europe at the upcoming summit. «We are striving for this,» Donfried said. On May 18, the ambassadors of Finland and Sweden to NATO presented NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with applications for their countries to join the North Atlantic Alliance. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan then said that Ankara would not support the admission of two northern countries to NATO until they determined their attitude towards terrorist organizations. The Turkish leadership has repeatedly voiced this position, including at negotiations with their counterparts and representatives of international organizations. Representatives of Turkey, Sweden and Finland discussed the security issues raised by Ankara on June 20 at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Following its results, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö admitted that «no special progress was made» at the meeting, and expressed the opinion that the issue of his country's entry into NATO could hardly be resolved before September. 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. the chances of Finland and Sweden being accepted into NATO are minimal
