Hungary’s Orbán takes step toward breaking deadlock over Sweden’s NATO membership
By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has sent a letter to his Swedish counterpart, Ulf Kristersson, inviting him to Budapest to discuss Sweden’s accession into the NATO military alliance. The invitation comes as Hungary and Turkey remain the only NATO members not to have ratified Sweden’s bid to join the alliance. Admission into NATO requires unanimity among all member countries, but more than a year of delays in Budapest and Ankara have frustrated other allies who want to expand the alliance amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. Orbán has long promised that Hungary will not be the last NATO member to approve Sweden’s accession.