NATO

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he has told President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that "the time has come" to let Sweden become a member of the military alliance.

Türkiye and Hungary are the only NATO countries that have not yet formally approved Sweden's accession bid.

He pointed out that the perspectives of that organization are not clear.
"In a little more than a year, the Helsinki Final Act will be 50 years old. We regret to say that the OSCE welcomes this anniversary in a sad state, and its prospects are unclear," said Lavrov.

Ukraine's foreign minister said yesterday that the country won't "back down" in its fight against Russia, despite doubts over U.S. support and minimal progress on the front line.

"We have to continue, we have to keep fighting. Ukraine is not going to back down," Ukraine's top diplomat Dmytro Kuleba told Kiev's NATO backers in Brussels.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said yesterday his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, had promised that Ankara would approve Stockholm's membership of NATO "within weeks."

Türkiye and Hungary are the only NATO members yet to ratify Sweden's bid, more than 18 months after it applied for membership.

The Bulgarian Council of Ministers has greenlit a landmark decision, approving a draft Memorandum of Understanding between Bulgaria and 11 European nations. This paves the way for a collaborative effort in procuring ground-based air defense systems under the European Sky Shield initiative.

He said that during the meeting he informed the ministers of foreign affairs of NATO member countries about the state of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, and the situation in the Western Balkans.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told NATO counterparts on Tuesday he was working hard on Sweden's NATO ratification which is currently being debated by the Turkish parliament and provided a likely timeline of before year-end for the Nordic country to formally join the alliance, a senior State Department official said.

Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is the clear front-runner to become NATO's next chief, even though a shock far-right win at elections in his homeland risks tarnishing his legacy.

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel remarked that Bulgaria's decision to authorize the Russian Foreign Minister's aircraft passage over Bulgarian airspace en route to the OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje was aligned with the European Union's directives.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is visiting Brussels to attend the NATO foreign ministerial meetings and hold talks with allies on regional and international issues, including the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, as well as on the alliance's prospected expansion with Sweden.