Turkey agreeing to advance Sweden's NATO membership bid is a 'severe setback' for Russian President Vladimir Putin, one expert told Newsweek.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced Monday that Erdoğan agreed to send Sweden's NATO accession protocol to the Turkish parliament"as soon as possible," ending the months-long holdup of the Scandinavian country's efforts to join the military alliance. Turkey has opposed Sweden's membership over concerns about the government's efforts to combat Islamophobia as well as calls for Stockholm to crack down on Kurdish groups in their country.
The move is a blow to Putin, who has opposed the growth of NATO. Putin has said the alliance's eastward expansion was a key reason why his country invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but the invasion prompted both Sweden and Finland, once NATO holdouts, to apply for membership. Mathieu Droin, a visiting fellow for the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program, toldin a phone interview Monday afternoon that Sweden's membership will be a"major strategic and political failure for Russia" and a result of"Russia's aggression against Ukraine."
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