May 19 – According to reports from the Croatian News Agency and other foreign media, on the 18th local time, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said at a press conference that he planned to instruct Mario, the country’s Permanent Representative to NATO. Nobilo) prevented Finland and Sweden from joining NATO.
As early as April 26, Milanović said that Finland and Sweden’s application to join NATO was tantamount to angering Russia, was a “very dangerous adventure” and would be stopped.
The ambassadors of Finland and Sweden to NATO submitted their applications to NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg to join NATO at a ceremony held at NATO headquarters in Brussels on the 18th. After accepting the application, Stoltenberg said that NATO would evaluate the application as soon as possible and consider the next steps on the road from the two countries to NATO.
According to the procedure, NATO must “agree” with the “agreed consent” of the 30 members to admit new members. Recently, NATO member Turkey has repeatedly stressed that Finland and Sweden must stop supporting the PKK and others when seeking to join NATO, and lift restrictions on the export of defense equipment to Turkey. The Financial Times quoted people familiar with the matter on the 18th as saying that Turkey blocked the opening of negotiations on Finland and Sweden to join NATO.
