By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will sit down with Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, later on Wednesday to discuss Sweden’s bid to join NATO amid efforts to overcome opposition from fellow NATO ally Turkey.
Biden leaves on Sunday on a three-nation trip centered around the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. There are doubts that Turkey will lift its opposition in time to allow NATO leaders to welcome Sweden into their ranks at the summit.
The Oval Office meeting between Biden and Kristersson is a United States show of support for Sweden’s bid.
“President Biden and Prime Minister Kristersson will review our growing security cooperation and reaffirm their view that Sweden should join NATO as soon as possible,” the White House said in a statement ahead of the meeting.
Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year, ditching long-held policies of military non-alignment after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Applications for membership must be approved by all NATO members, but Turkey and Hungary have yet to clear Sweden’s bid.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan says Stockholm harbors members of militant groups it considers to be terrorists.
The United States and its allies have been working to overcome Turkey’s opposition. Erdogan has complained that supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Sweden continued to organize demonstrations and finance what he calls terrorist groups, which was “unacceptable” for Turkey.
(Reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Heather Timmons and Matthew Lewis)
