NATO Applicants Finland and Sweden Delay Nuclear Issue

Finland and Sweden do not want to discuss the issue of storing nuclear weapons on their territories before they become members of NATO. This was stated by the countries' prime ministers, respectively Sanna Marin (Socialist Party) and Ulf Kristersson (Moderates), at a press conference on Tuesday, writes Yle.

The press conference was held after the summit for Nordic prime ministers and government leaders during the Nordic Council's session in Helsinki.

Both Marin and Kristersson expressed that the countries would not shut any doors to the design of their NATO membership and that they might seek to make joint decisions around such issues when the time is right.

"It is natural for Finland and Sweden to have the same line, also when it comes to nuclear weapons," said the new Swedish prime minister.

Norway's policy is that nuclear weapons are not to be stored on Norwegian soil in times of peace. Earlier this fall, Finland started working on the evaluation of different alternatives for NATO's presence in the country.

At the moment, only the Finns' and the Swedes' applications from Turkey and Hungary remain to be ratified by NATO's total of 30 member states. Hungary has now given assurances that it will support the NATO expansion, and the dialogue with Turkey is reportedly going relatively well, reports NRK.

NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is traveling to Turkey on Wednesday for meetings with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as well as the country's minister of foreign affairs, minister of defense, and other high-ranking officials writes the alliance in a press release.