Finland and Sweden are not planning to make preconditions about the issue of nuclear weapons before they are official members of Nato, according to Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) and Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson.
"We shouldn't [make] any preconditions. This isn't something that we are actively now discussing. We are waiting to become members and then these kinds of matters can be discussed," Marin told reporters at the briefing.
The premiers made the comments at a press briefing in Helsinki, where regional leaders gathered on Tuesday for the 74th session of the Nordic Council.
According to Kristersson, Finland's and Sweden's approach to the issue of nuclear weapons and their pending memberships in the military alliance are the same.
"We'll go hand-in-hand, also in this sense, with Finland. And of course we acknowledge the fact that we embrace all of Nato's capabilities, as Nato is today. But I think Sweden and Finland should draw exactly the same conclusions," Kristersson said.
The Swedish PM added that he is convinced that the two countries' pending membership in Nato will be ratified by all of its members.
Nato ratification, security
At the moment, only two out of the alliance's 30 members, Hungary and Turkey, have not ratified Finland's and Sweden's memberships.
Kristersson has spoken with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about the country's membership ratification, and is bound for Turkey to negotiate the topic at a later date.
News agency STT reported last month that Hungary plans to ratify Finland's and Sweden's defence alliance membership in mid-December.
Meanwhile, Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre and Icelandic PM Katrín Jakobsdóttir affirmed their countries' support for Finland's and Sweden's membership in Nato. Denmark, Iceland and Norway have been members of the alliance since it was founded in 1949.
In their opening statements, all of the premiers also reiterated the Nordic countries' joint commitment to continue supporting Ukraine as well as fight climate change.
Formed in 1952, the Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary cooperation. The council has 87 members from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland.
Among other topics, the meeting's agenda includes Russia's attack on Ukraine. The leaders are also to discuss the heightened security situation in the Nordic region, as reflected in Norway, where the military has raised its preparedness level, prompted in part by the suspected sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline in late September.
Nord Stream passes through the territorial waters and/or Exclusive Economic Zones of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.