Sweden is willing to consider deploying nuclear weapons on its soil

Sweden is ready to consider deploying nuclear weapons on its soil after becoming a member of the Atlantic Alliance, its new Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson announced alongside his Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin.

“We must not make any conditions”, Sanna Marin declared at the beginning of the joint press conference in Helsinki. “We decided not to close any doors.”

“You will receive the same response from me as the Prime Minister of Finland,” added Mr Kristerson.

“It is natural for Sweden and Finland to work together in this matter and we should follow the same formalities,” argued the Swedish head of government. “So I think we should go hand in hand with Finland.”

Marin and Christerson agreed, however, that if their countries had any reservations, they could always express them “later.”

Two NATO member states, Denmark and Norway, have refused to allow foreign powers to establish nuclear weapons or permanent bases on their soil.

To date, 28 member states of the Atlantic bloc – out of thirty – have approved the accession of Sweden and Finland, which must be approved unanimously.

Only Hungary and Turkey have yet to give their final agreement.

Mr Christerson spoke on the phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last Wednesday, as Sweden tries to persuade Ankara to confirm its entry into NATO.

Turkey’s president has threatened since mid-May to block the two Nordic countries’ NATO accession, accusing Sweden and Finland of harboring Kurdish fighters considered terrorists from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG). by Ankara.

Mr Erdogan warned that Turkey’s parliament would not approve the two states’ membership unless extradition requests from Ankara were respected.

President Erdogan will receive NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Turkey on November 4 to discuss Ankara’s acceptance of the memberships of Sweden and Finland, a senior official told AFP on Friday.