The future NATO membership of Sweden and Finland would "strengthen" the European Union, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said at a meeting of EU defence ministers in Brussels
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu said that Turkish public opinion was against admitting Sweden and Finland to NATO, adding that "they are calling on us to block it"
Former president Dmitry Medvedev, who is now deputy head of the National Security Council in Moscow, had threatened to station nuclear weapons in Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad
"A renewed expansion of NATO will not make our continent more stable and secure," spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Russia would be assessing the consequences of Finland joining…
The ruling Social Democrats in Finland under Prime Minister Sanna Marin intend to announce their own stance on NATO membership a day earlier, on Saturday
The Finnish parliamentary groups are meeting on May 12, and two days later, the Social Democratic party of Prime Minister Sanna Marin also intends to present its position
The party of Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson has in the past spoken out against NATO membership and in favour of the country's traditional military non-alignment
He specifically mentioned the possibility of stationing Iskander missiles, hypersonic weapons and nuclear-armed naval vessels in the region effectively within range of the homes of Finns and Swedes