INTERNATIONAL: The U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) has fueled the current Russia-Ukraine crisis through its continued efforts to supply weapons to Ukraine instead of focusing on ways to mediate and resolve the conflict through peaceful negotiations, according to a Danish scholar.
Sweden and Finland will today hand in their respective applications to NATO to join the organisation, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Tuesday.
"In Sweden and Finland we also agree to go hand in hand through this entire process and we will tomorrow together file the application," she told a joint news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto in the Swedish capital.
With Finland and Sweden speeding up their bids to join the 30-member military alliance, Jan Oberg, who is the founder of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research in Denmark, told reporters that many of the current problems have been created by NATO's military moves.
"Look at what NATO has been doing in the past 30 years, they have created the problems we have now. The solution to the [Ukraine crisis] is not militarizing more because one of the reasons that we have the problems we have, and now we see how the NATO is arming Ukraine, completely madly, instead of working for peace and mediation and negotiations, and some kind of new security structure for Europe - you pump in weapons, weapons, weapons," he said.
"That's the only thing people in NATO know, and members of NATO and the United States know, is every problem must be solved by more weapons," Oberg added.
Sweden on Monday took the formal decision to apply for NATO membership, following in the footsteps of its neighbour Finland, a decision which would see an end to the long-term neutral military stance of both countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that Russia "has no problem" with Finland and Sweden's NATO membership bid but will react if NATO's move in the two countries is considered a threat.
Finland and Sweden voiced optimism on Tuesday that common ground can be found with Turkey over its objections to them joining NATO amid a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at smoothing their path into the 30-nation alliance.
Turkey surprised many NATO allies on Monday by saying it would not support membership for Sweden and Finland after the two countries took the widely anticipated step of agreeing to apply to join the U.S.-led alliance this week.
Niinisto said he talked by telephone with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan a month ago and that the message then had been supportive of Finnish and Swedish membership in NATO.
"But in the last week he has said 'not favourable'," Niinisto said. "That means we have to continue our discussions. I am optimistic."
Niinisto and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson will travel to the United States to meet U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday to discuss the applications, the three administrations said separately on Tuesday.
U.S. confident it can preserve NATO 'consensus' to admit Sweden and Finland. State department commented.
