Accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO is a natural continuation of years of partnership and joint military operations and drills, Adm. Rob Bauer, the chair of the NATO Military Committee, said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th May, 2022) Accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO is a natural continuation of years of partnership and joint military operations and drills, Adm. Rob Bauer, the chair of the NATO Military Committee, said on Thursday.
"Finland and Sweden are our closes partners for a couple of years already. In that sense, we are used to work with them in terms of our exercises and several operations. Those nations have contributed to operations of NATO. It is about interoperability, it is about connectivity, it is about modern capabilities that these nations have. So I think they bring a lot and this is a larger goal, sort of continuation of that relationship," Bauer said during a press conference.
The military committee chair went on to say that the decision on the possible deployment of NATO forces in Finland and Sweden can only happen at their request, adding that the alliance will still be conducting joint military drills with those countries.
The two nations submitted their NATO membership applications to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday. Whether the two countries will be admitted to the alliance hinges on unanimous approval by NATO member states.
Earlier on Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara had informed its NATO allies that it would say no to the membership of Sweden and Finland, and would not change its position. Finland's President Sauli Niinisto later assured that Helsinki took Turkey's concerns about its accession to NATO seriously and would continue discussions with Ankara in the coming days.
