The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)

Turkey objects as Sweden, Finland seek membership

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Sweden on Monday decided to join neighborin­g Finland in seeking NATO membership, ending more than two centuries of military nonalignme­nt in a historic shift prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The move drew strong objections from Turkey, a key NATO member who declared the two nations should not be allowed to join because they have been too lax in taking action against Kurdish militants. Countries can only join NATO if all current members agree.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson warned that the Nordic country would be in a “vulnerable position” during the applicatio­n period and urged her fellow citizens to brace themselves for the Russian response.

“Russia has said that that it will take countermea­sures if we join NATO,” she said. “We cannot rule out that Sweden will be exposed to, for instance, disinforma­tion and attempts to intimidate and divide us.”

Sweden’s move came a day after the country’s governing Social Democratic party endorsed a plan for Sweden to join the trans-Atlantic alliance and Finland’s government announced that it would seek to join NATO.

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