President Biden and the Prime Minister of Sweden met at the White House on Wednesday, during a week of diplomacy by the two leaders to convince opponents to admit the Nordic nation into NATO.
Speaking at a meeting in the Oval Office, President Biden told Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden that the country was a “valued friend and partner” and that he “anxiously looks forward to your membership” in NATO. But “any decision on NATO membership is between the 31 allies,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, told reporters during a briefing.
Mr. Biden and Mr. Kristersson share a belief that Sweden should join NATO quickly, as well as their commitment to support Ukraine. Sweden applied to join NATO in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Finland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for the same reason this year, after overcoming Turkey’s objections, but Turkey and Hungary have postponed Sweden’s bid to join the alliance. The meeting at the White House took place a week before a NATO summit in Lithuania, which Mr Biden plans to attend. During the same trip he will visit Great Britain and Finland.
US and Swedish leaders continued their efforts for Sweden on Thursday in Brussels, where NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has scheduled a meeting with senior officials from Sweden, Finland and Turkey, according to The Associated Press.
High-level talks held in Turkey last month failed to make clear progress towards approval of Sweden’s application. At the time, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his stance would not change unless Sweden took a tougher stance against pro-Kurdish protests in the capital Stockholm.
While Erdogan said Sweden had taken steps in the right direction towards a NATO bid – amending the constitution, strengthening anti-terrorism legislation and lifting an arms embargo on Turkey – he said in a telephone conversation with the Dutch prime minister that the ongoing pro-Kurdish protests had “nullified” these steps, the Turkish presidency’s Twitter account reported Wednesday.
If Sweden joined NATO, it would be a serious rebuke to Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin. Putin has long fought against the expansion of the alliance, but his invasion of Ukraine is fueling it instead.