German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said she supports Finland and Sweden's NATO membership, despite criticism from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Every country is free to decide on its membership in the alliance.

This also applies to Sweden and Finland ", said Baerbock during the closing press conference after the meeting of the G7 foreign ministers in Germany, Telegrafi reports.

"It is not NATO that has pushed Sweden and Finland to join, but the actions of the Russian president, because they want to continue living in peace with their neighbors, in this alliance, if they unite.

"I would support him a lot," Baerbock said.

Meanwhile, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that the Nordic nation would decide "to seek NATO membership in the coming days."

In addition, on Thursday, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde stressed that Sweden will consider Finland's assessments of NATO membership, as it also considers joining the military alliance.

"The German government has already made it clear that we support this accession.

Sweden and Finland are strong countries in terms of their defense capabilities.

"Only that would make their acceptance stronger for NATO."

In addition to the German diplomat, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday welcomed Finland's offer to join NATO and offered "full support" to Berlin.

However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that he did not view Sweden and Finland's possible membership in NATO "positively" and said on Thursday that "Scandinavian countries are a host for terrorist organizations".

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