NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the two countries applying for NATO membership could expect some protection until their formal approval is received, as a Swedish minister said they could make a decision on joining NATO in the coming weeks.
The NATO Secretary-General held a press conference after the NATO Foreign Ministers. Dursun Aydemir/ Anadolu Agency is pictured.
In case Russia tries to intimidate the two countries after they apply to join the alliance, he is confident that there are ways to bridge that interim period.
NATO is a 30-country alliance joined together by a security agreement that says an attack against one ally is considered an attack against all allies, and requires NATO countries to provide military aid if a member country is attacked.
Before all 30 countries formally approve their addition to the alliance, member countries could provide some support to Finland and Sweden, according to comments by Stoltenberg.
If the two countries apply, he expects them to be warmly welcomed and the process to go quickly.
The two countries could make a decision on the same day or within the same week, but no date has been set for any potential application.
For the interim period between the application by the two Nordic countries and the formal approval in the parliaments of all the NATO members, Stoltenberg was certain that arrangements would be found.
Sweden's Prime Minister said during a press conference this month that there would be a re-evaluation of military neutrality after the 24th of February. Sweden has pledged to avoid military alliances for over 200 years, but a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea could be vulnerable if conflict broke out in the region.
Before the invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that NATO withdraw troops from his country's border. The Kremlin warned that Russia would have to balance the situation with military and political consequences.
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