Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Swedish and Finnish delegations should not bother going to Ankara to convince his government to support their NATO bids.

Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Monday that Sweden's government has formally decided to apply for NATO membership, a day after Finnish President Sauli Niinisto confirmed that Helsinki will also apply.

Turkey had earlier said that it would not view their applications positively, citing their history of hosting members of groups that Ankara deems to be terrorists.

(Cover: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan holds a news conference during the NATO summit at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium June 14, 2021. /Reuters)