“Each State is free to accept or not nuclear weapons, and we are not going to impose restrictions,” Gran said.

Asked if the bloc expects a military reaction from Russia in response to Finland and Sweden joining it, Gran replied: “The Russians have said that this is not necessary, and I don’t think that will happen.”

Gran expressed the hope that the differences between Turkey, Finland and Sweden over the desire of Helsinki and Stockholm to join the alliance will be resolved at the NATO summit in Madrid, to be held between June 28th and 30th.

On the issue of Kiev’s relations with NATO, Gran pointed out that the issue of Ukraine’s accession into the alliance is not on the agenda at the moment, since nothing can be anticipated as a result of the current conflict.

Finnish and Swedish ambassadors to NATO, Klaus Korhonen and Axel Wernhoff, respectively, submitted requests to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on May 18th to have their countries admitted.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on the same day that Ankara would not support the admission of Sweden and Finland to the organization until the Nordic countries determine their political attitude towards Turkey.

pgh/llp/mem/amp