Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said on November 2 that after a telephone call with Hungarian President Viktor Orban, he believes Helsinki "can count on Hungary in our NATO ratification" process. Hungary and Turkey are the only remaining countries in NATO who have not yet approved the Swedish and Finnish applications for membership. Finland and Sweden did not pursue NATO membership for decades but were prompted to do so by Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Also on November 2, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom predicted Hungary would ratify his country's membership bid, too, based on a "quite positive conversation" with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
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