Visiting Sweden, US Secretary of Defense today called on Turkey and Hungary to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership “as soon as possible” and until the next alliance summit in early July.

“We look forward to welcoming Sweden as our 32nd member soon. And to be clear, we expect this to happen before the July summit,” he said. Lloyd Austin during a visit to the Swedish naval base Muska near Stockholm.

“Therefore, we call on Turkey and Hungary to ratify the accession of Sweden as soon as possible,” he added.

The US military stepped up its naval and air missions to Sweden “to highlight this deep support.” – the American minister explained after the threats of revenge made in early April by the Russian ambassador in Stockholm.

Washington has backed from the start the accession of Finland, which went into effect on April 4, and Sweden, which has waited months for its much-needed green light. Türkiye And her Hungary.

Sweden and the alliance hope to remove the roadblocks before the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in early July, but the matter promises to be difficult.

Analysts say much will depend on the outcome of Turkey’s May 14 election, in which outgoing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is running for a new term.

Turkey basically accuses Sweden of being a safe haven for Kurdish “terrorists” hostile to Ankara, demanding dozens of deportations.

Source: APE-MPE-AFP.

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