Budapest [Hungary], February 18 (ANI): Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Saturday announced that Hungary can ratify Sweden's North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) bid as soon as February 26, CNN reported.

In his annual state of the nation address, Orban said, "Together with the Swedish Prime Minister, we have done important steps to restore confidence." He said, "We are going in the direction that, at the start of parliament's spring session, we can ratify Sweden's accession to NATO."

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According to the Hungarian government's website, the parliament will reconvene for its spring session on February 26. Hungary is the last NATO member to approve Sweden's accession to the military alliance, according to CNN report.

In June last year, Orban's party, Fidesz, said that it expected Sweden to "allay its concerns" before the vote on Sweden's accession to NATO, according to a CNN report. In July, Fidesz told CNN that "Swedish government figures have regularly insulted Hungarian voters and Hungary as a whole."

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In May 2022, Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership. The two nations applied for NATO membership soon after Russia launched its offensive against Ukraine in 2022. Finland became a member of NATO in April 2023.

Orban is considered to be the European leader closest to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Initially, Orban hinted that he was not opposed to Sweden joining the bloc, before working to stall it, according to CNN report.

In 2023, Hungarian Member of Parliament Katalin Cseh said that Orban's blocking of Sweden's bid was "quite simply, another favour to Vladimir Putin." However, Orban took steps to allow the process to move forward after Turkish leaders decided to approve Sweden's accession to NATO. (ANI)

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