Two countries delay Finland and Sweden joining NATO - US urged to speed up the process
Accession protocols have not been ratified by Turkey and Hungary.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called on Hungary and Turkey to ratify Finland's and Sweden's NATO membership.
It is reported by CNBC.
Austin urged all Allies to ratify accession protocols as quickly as possible.
Currently, Hungary and Turkey are the latest of the 30 NATO members to refuse to grant membership to the Scandinavian countries.
Slovakia, which also delayed the decision, signed the instruments of ratification on 27 September.
Accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO - key facts
In May, Finland and Sweden began the process of applying to join NATO. This was facilitated by Russia's unleashing a bloody war against Ukraine.
On June 29, at the summit, the member countries officially invited these countries to join the Alliance.
Russia reacted with new threats - it announced a "symmetrical reaction" to the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO.
And NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that in this way Russian President Vladimir Putin's opposition to NATO expansion failed.
In August, the US Senate voted 95 to 1 for Finland and Sweden to join NATO, after which US President Joe Biden signed the ratification documents.
Since then, 28 countries of the Alliance have signed instruments of ratification. The decisions of Hungary and Turkey are expected, which initially opposed the entry of countries into the Alliance.
It should be noted that Finnish President Sauli Niinistjo has previously admitted that Turkey will be the last to ratify the country's accession to NATO.