Finland could join NATO ahead of Sweden, says Finnish Defence Minister

All NATO countries except Turkey and Hungary have already given both countries the green light to join the alliance.

Finland’s Defence Minister said Saturday that his country will join NATO without waiting for Sweden if its Nordic neighbor’s accession is held up by the Turkish government.

Mikko Savola told The Associated Press on Saturday that Finland would prefer that that the two countries join the alliance together, but it wouldn’t hold up the process if Turkey decides to approve Finland, but not Sweden, as it has warned.

“No, no. Then we will join,” Savola said in an interview on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich.

Since they broke with decades of non-alignment in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, Finland and Sweden have insisted they want to join NATO together. But Turkey’s reluctance to accept Sweden unless it steps up pressure on Kurdish exile groups has made it more likely the two will have to join the alliance at different speeds.

“Sweden is our closest partner,” Savola said. “Almost every week our defense forces are practicing together and so on. It’s a very deep cooperation and we also trust fully each other. But it’s in Türkiye’s hands now.”

Speaking later Saturday at a panel in Munich, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin struck a similar note.

“Of course, we cannot influence how some country would ratify, but our message is that we are willing to join and would prefer to join together,” she said.