Biden pays tribute to Sweden, Finland NATO offers when leaders visit the United States
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden on Thursday hailed the “momentary” applications from once neutral Sweden and Finland to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukrainewhen the three countries worked to address continued opposition from Turkey to the two joining the alliance.
Biden greeted Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in the White House with handshakes and laughter when they met for trilateral talks on NATO’s mutual defense pact and broader European security issues. His administration has expressed optimism about their applications to join the alliance, which would mean significant embarrassment for Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
“Today, I am proud to welcome and offer the strong support in the United States for the applications of two major democracies and two close, very capable partners to join the strongest, most powerful defensive alliance in world history,” Biden said after escorting their leaders to the Rose Garden.
“They meet all NATO requirements and a little more,” he said, “and having two new NATO members in the far north will increase the security of our alliance.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that the alliance stop expanding towards Russia’s borders and several NATO allies, led by the United States and Britain, have signaled their readiness to provide security assistance to Finland and Sweden should the Kremlin try to provoke or destabilize them during it. time it takes to become full members. Putin cited Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO as a reason for his invasion of the country.
“New members joining NATO are not a threat to any nation,” Biden implicitly rejected Putin. “It never has been.”
The leaders’ optimism for Sweden’s and Finland’s applications was set against lingering opposition from Turkey, whose president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a Thursday video that he is still opposed. Each of NATO’s 30 member states has the power to veto a membership offer.
“We have told our relevant friends that we would say ‘no’ to Finland and Sweden’s entry into NATO, and we will continue on our path like this,” Erdogan told a group of Turkish youths in the video in memory of Ataturk, youth and Sports Day, a national holiday.
Erdogan has said that Turkey’s objection stems from complaints against Sweden’s – and to a lesser extent Finland’s – perceived support for the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and an armed group in Syria that Turkey sees as an extension of the PKK. The conflict with the PKK has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.
Turkey also accuses Sweden and Finland of harboring supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Muslim priest accused by the Turkish government of the 2016 military coup.
The objections reflect long-standing Turkish complaints about even more widespread US support for Kurds, as well as Gulen’s presence in America.
Finland’s Niinistö said in a White House speech: “We are open to discussing any concerns Turkey may have about our membership in an open and constructive manner.”
He added: “We take terrorism seriously. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and we are actively committed to fighting it.”
Sveriges Andersson said that her nation also reached out to Turkey and other NATO nations “to sort out any problems.”
“I think we will make it,” Biden said on Wednesday when asked if he was sure he could secure their entry into NATO.
While they are neutral throughout the Cold War, Finland and Sweden are now cooperating closely with NATO. Countries will only benefit from NATO’s Article 5 security guarantee – the part of the Alliance’s founding treaty that promises that every attack on a member would be considered an attack on all of them – once the membership ratification process is complete. Public opinion in Finland and Sweden has changed sharply in favor of membership since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
“After 200 years of military freedom of alliance, Sweden has chosen a new path,” Andersson said, calling Russia’s invasion a “watershed” that made her country rethink its security position. “My government has come to the conclusion that the security of the Swedish people will be best protected within the NATO alliance,” she said.
Biden announced on Thursday that he is asking the US Senate to approve the new NATO memberships, pending the completion of the ratification process by Sweden and Finland. The required step was expected to receive overwhelming bipartisan support.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday that Finland and Sweden were “working directly” with Turkey to address its concerns, and that the US was also talking to Turkish officials to “try to help facilitate” a solution.
“You have an awesome collection of states that all have opinions, that everyone has perspectives, that everyone has interests,” Sullivan said. “But they also know how and when to get together and how to resolve any disagreements. And I expect these differences to be resolved.”
He added: “I expect NATO to speak with one voice in support of Finland and Sweden at the end of the day.”