What Happened: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg publicly admitted that Finland may join the military alliance before Sweden, the Financial Times reported Feb. 14. On the same day, Finnish newspaper Iltalehti said Sweden and Finland agreed that Finand can join NATO first in case Turkey continues to veto Sweden's accession.

Why It Matters: The decoupling of Sweden's and Finland's NATO accessions increases the possibility of Finland joining the military alliance in the coming weeks or months. Considering that Finland shares a long border with Russia, NATO sees Finland's accession as more urgent than Sweden's. The possibility of Turkey lifting its veto on Sweden's accession will increase after the Turkish general election in May.

Background: Finland and Sweden applied together to join NATO in May 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. While Turkey has said it will ratify Finland's accession, it is delaying the ratification of Sweden's accession, arguing that Stockholm harbors Kurdish activists. A recent incident in which a far-right group burned a copy of the Koran during a protest in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, further increased bilateral tensions.