WASHINGTON, September 23 — RIA Novosti. US Ambassador to Helsinki Douglas Hickey believes that Finland and Sweden may be admitted to NATO later this year, informs American newspaper Politico.
It should be noted that only three of the 30 NATO countries have not yet ratified the accession of Finland and Sweden to the alliance: Slovakia, Hungary and Turkey. At the same time, according to the newspaper, the general assumption is that Hungary and Turkey will wait until 2023 with the final decision.
“Douglas Hickey… said he was optimistic that NATO would have 32 members by the end of this year. The talks he had with his Hungarian counterpart in Helsinki led him to believe that a positive vote would be coming soon, he told the group (reporters and experts — editor’s note), warning that the situation could change. But Hickey believes the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan he does not want to be alone, which prompts him to move quickly on this issue, ”writes the newspaper.
