HOT: “The Bulgarian National Bank withdraws old banknotes with a 20 BGN obverse from the stream. See where you can replace yours!
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said in an interview with Yle (Finland’s national public broadcaster) published on Tuesday that his country would possibly seek to join NATO without Sweden if Stockholm’s bid takes longer to be approved.
Haavisto criticized protesters in Sweden who recently burned a copy of the Koran, saying they were “playing with the security of Finland and Sweden” and intentionally provoking Turkey to approve the Nordic countries joining the alliance.
He added that he expected Ankara to ratify the NATO club proposal of Sweden and Finland at least before Turkey’s elections in May.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Erdogan insisted he may simply not be part of Sweden’s NATO club after the “ugly act” in the Scandinavian country, which he described as “an insult to anyone who respects the basic rights and freedoms of people, especially Muslims. “
Meanwhile, the U. S. The U. S. government said the two Scandinavian countries were in a position to sign the alliance.
Sweden and Finland implemented last year to enroll in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after Russia invaded Ukraine. Now they want all existing NATO members to move forward with their candidacy.
In an interview with Reuters, Finland’s foreign minister said a multi-week pause in negotiations between Finland, Sweden and Turkey over the two northern countries’ plans to join the NATO military alliance was needed.
“We want a break before we go back to trilateral talks and see where we are when passions subside after the current situation, so we don’t want to draw conclusions yet,” Pekka Haavisto told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Finland and Sweden have continuously said they plan to join the alliance at the same time and that hasn’t changed, Haavisto also told Reuters. “I don’t see the need for a discussion about this,” he said when asked if Finland could potentially continue without Sweden.
However, this view is contrary to the one he made for the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation.
/BNR
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