Hungary announced on Friday that it had signed a deal to buy four Saab JAS Gripen fighter jets from Sweden, as Budapest prepared to give final approval to Stockholm’s bid to join NATO after nearly two years of delays. Reuters.

Hungary is the only member of the transatlantic military alliance that has not ratified Sweden’s accession to NATO. This request was made in 2022, after decades of neutrality, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who last week conceded that parliament would vote on ratification on Monday, met Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Budapest on Friday, saying he had managed to “restore trust” .

Orbán said that Hungary would purchase the Swedish planes and extend the corresponding logistics contract. Hungary currently leases Gripen aircraft under a contract signed in 2001.

“We not only maintain our air defense capability, but we will also increase it, which means that our commitment to NATO will increase, as well as our participation in the joint NATO operation,” Orbán said at a joint press conference with Kristersson.

Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson welcomed the agreement. “As you know, I also know that we don’t agree on everything, but we agree that we should cooperate where possible,” he said, sitting next to Orbán, News.ro reports citing Reuters.

Viktor Orbán, whose nationalist government maintains close economic ties with Russia, has repeatedly delayed ratification, citing dissatisfaction with Sweden’s criticism of Hungary over its rule of law.

Sweden’s bid to join NATO – a major change after decades of non-alignment – was also initially blocked by Turkey, which accused Stockholm of supporting what it called terrorist groups. When Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in July he would give the green light to Sweden, the US said it would continue the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey after consulting Congress.

Sweden, which has a long coastline on the Baltic Sea, could become a vital logistical hub for NATO in northern Europe. Military non-alignment was a point of pride for the Swedes, and a clear majority was against joining NATO before Russia invaded Ukraine.

However, when the Social Democrats, the dominant political force in Sweden for the past 100 years, changed their mind about joining NATO, the polls recorded the biggest change in public opinion on record. NATO membership now has a clear majority in parliament and among the public.

Sweden has already regularly participated in exercises in the region.

Orban, who has refused to send arms to Ukraine and has repeatedly criticized Western sanctions against Russia, again called for a ceasefire in Ukraine on Friday.

On the other hand, he once again supported the candidacy of Donald Trump to return to the position of the president of the United States this year.

“We hope that the current president will leave and that President Trump will come back and have free hands to make peace,” Orbán said on state radio.

The Prime Minister of Hungary stated that a truce is the only solution because “Russia cannot be brought to its knees in a military sense”: “This conflict (in Ukraine) has no solution on the battlefield.”

Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, joined NATO last April after, like Sweden, abandoning decades of traditional neutrality. Two Scandinavian countries applied to join NATO at the same time.