Latest in Ukraine: Turkey to Vote on Finland’s NATO Bid
New developments:
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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba calls April rotating U.N. Security Council presidency held by Russia “a bad joke.” Kuleba tweeted the world “can’t be a safe place with Russia at UNSC.”
Russia’s Federal Security Service says Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges.
Turkey’s parliament is set to vote Thursday on Finland’s bid to join NATO.
Finland and neighboring Sweden each broke with decades of nonalignment with their applications to join the military alliance after Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
Since their accession bids were ratified at a NATO summit in July, NATO member states have gone through their own processes of giving final approval for Finland and Sweden.
Hungary gave its approval to Finland on Monday, leaving only Turkey remaining in a process that must be unanimous among current NATO members.
Both Finland and Sweden had their bids slowed as Turkey expressed concerns that the countries were too lenient toward groups that Turkey considers terror organizations. Representatives from the three countries met earlier this month to resolve their outstanding issues, but Turkey has yet to indicate it will ultimately support Sweden’s bid.
Sweden, and NATO leaders, have said Sweden has carried out a series of reforms to overcome Turkey’s concerns. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly said he expected both Finland and Sweden will become NATO members.
Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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