• The US has maintained its support for Finland and Sweden.
• A pause in trilateral negotiations with Turkey was cited as a reason for the need for the talks to be halted.
• Washington would not say if it would support Finland’s potential membership without Sweden.

After Helsinki declared that a pause was necessary for trilateral negotiations with Turkey on the Nordic countries’ bid to join the military alliance, the Biden administration maintained its support for both Finland and Sweden joining NATO at the earliest opportunity on Tuesday.

When asked twice during a news briefing if Washington would support Finland’s potential membership without Sweden, State Department spokesperson Ned Price declined to respond, referring to the subject as “hypothetical” and not “a live question right now.”

“This has always been a discussion about Finland and Sweden… (about) moving from an alliance of 28 to an alliance of 30. That’s what we want to see happen,” Price said, adding that Finland joining NATO separately “is just a question that we’re not entertaining.”

After a weekend demonstration that saw the burning of a Quran near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, the president of Turkey indicated that Sweden shouldn’t count on his nation’s backing.

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