US awaiting decision from Sweden, Finland on NATO accession before June summit

Washington [US], April 29 (ANI/Sputnik)

The United States is awaiting formal decisions from Sweden and Finland about whether to join NATO in the buildup to an alliance summit in June, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.

"It's under very active consideration by both countries. There's a NATO summit, as you know very well, coming up soon, so I would anticipate that we'll hear more about that by the time of the summit," Blinken said in response to a question on the matter during a hearing of the House Foreign Relations Committee. Talk of Swedish and Finnish accession to NATO has been on the rise since the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine in February. The conflict is likely to be a focal point of the summit in June, which is set to take place in Madrid.