Turkey makes demands on Sweden, Finland

A senior Turkish official has insisted after talks with Swedish and Finnish officials that Turkey will not agree to the two Nordic countries joining NATO unless specific steps are taken to address Ankara's objections.

"We have made it very clear that if Turkey's security concerns are not met with concrete steps in a certain timeframe the process will not progress," Ibrahim Kalin said after Wednesday's talks in Ankara that lasted about five hours.

Kalin is the spokesman of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and a senior presidential aide.

Turkey has said it opposes the countries' membership of NATO, citing grievances with their perceived support of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and other entities that Turkey views as security threats.

Kalin said Turkey's proposal for the two countries to lift arms export limits was met with a "positive attitude" by the Swedish and Finnish delegations.

He added that talks would continue once the Nordic governments had responded to Turkey's demands.

Turkey also expects the extradition of 28 "terrorism" suspects from Sweden and 12 from Finland, Kalin said.

___ Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced a 10% raise to the minimum wage rate and pensions in the coming weeks, a move that comes as the Russian economy faces an unprecedented wave of international sanctions.

Putin said in a government meeting that the minimum cost of living will be up 10% beginning June 1, and the minimum wage rate and state pensions will go up 10% starting July 1. The bump will bring the minimum wage to about $250 per month and the average pension to $320, according to the Interfax news agency.

"Our key and unchanging priority is to increase the welfare and quality of life of citizens," Putin said.

He also tasked government officials with increasing pay for Russian soldiers serving abroad as the Russian military operation in Ukraine enters its fourth month.

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