Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he was confident that Finland would become a fully-fledged member of the alliance before mid-May. Finland will likely become an official member of Nato before Turkey’s parliamentary and presidential elections on 14 May, the alliance’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. “Based on whatContinue Reading
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö told Swedish public broadcaster SVT (siirryt toiseen palveluun) on Sunday that he did not believe that Sweden’s chances of joining Nato had weakened after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said Turkey’s parliament would start ratifying Finland’s accession. Since applying for membership, Finnish leaders have emphasisedContinue Reading
Turkey plans to ratify Finland’s application to join Nato, but independently from Sweden’s bid, ahead of Turkish parliamentary and presidential elections in mid-May, according to Reuters. On Wednesday, Reuters cited two Turkish officials saying that the Turkish parliament is “highly likely to ratify Finland’s Nato bid before it closes inContinue Reading
Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) said in Kyiv that Finland should discuss whether its old Hornet fighters could be sent to Ukraine. Speaking to reporters in Ukraine on Friday, Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) said that Finland should discuss the possibility of sending some of its ageing Hornet fighters toContinue Reading
The head of the Swedish delegation in Brussels told reporters that progress is unlikely before Turkish elections, scheduled for 14 May. The latest round of trilateral talks between Finland, Sweden and Turkey over stalled applications by the two Nordic nations to join the Nato military alliance concluded on Thursday eveningContinue Reading
The military’s intelligence and security service, known as Must said on Monday that Sweden is safer after applying to join Nato, stating that Sweden had received bilateral security assurances from several countries while the membership was still pending. But at the same time, Sweden’s military intelligence said that Russia’s militaryContinue Reading
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö meets on Wednesday with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Störe. The foreign and defence ministers of all three countries, including Pekka Haavisto (Green) and Mikko Savola (Cen) from Finland, will also participate in the mini-summit. The three-way Nordic conference willContinue Reading
The prime minister of Sweden has warned against delinking his country’s Nato membership bid from Finland’s, after the alliance acknowledged for the first time that the two might have to join separately owing to Turkey’s obstruction. Ulf Kristersson said in an interview that for strategic reasons, the two membership applicationsContinue Reading
Denmark’s Leopard 2 tanks are training alongside the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) this week in Lääne County. President Alar Karis visited the exercise on Wednesday. While military training exercises are often held in Estonia among NATO allies and the EDF, this event is unusual as the targets are located atContinue Reading
Spain will deploy NASAMS air defense systems to Estonia for four months to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank after the two countries struck a deal on Tuesday. Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur (Reform) and Minister of Defense of Spain Margarita Robles made the agreement on the sidelines of the NATO defenseContinue Reading
Sweden
1,222,892
Denmark
529,210
Lithuania
484,537
Norway
300,013
Latvia
259,215
Estonia
226,304
Finland
197,476
Iceland
18,896