Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto (Picture: Getty Images)

The president of Finland wants his country and Sweden to join Nato by summer.

Sauli Niinistö is determined the two nations to make the move by the military alliance’s summit in July.

Lithuania will host the summit in the capital of Vilnius from July 11 to July 12.

Nato requires unanimous approval from its existing members before any new countries can join.

Mr Niinistö hinted he wants the US to put pressure on Turkey to approve outstanding membership bids.

Turkey and Hungary remain the only nations in the 30-member military alliance who haven’t formally endorsed Sweden and Finland’s accession.

Protesters in Stockholm were recently seen burning the Quran outside the city’s Turkish embassy and hanging an effigy of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In response, Turkey postponed a meeting in Brussels that would have discussed the two countries’ entry into the alliance.

Hopes are both countries will join the Nato military alliance before July (Picture: Getty Images)

Mr Niinistö stressed the final decision with Turkey rests with president Mr Erdogan.

‘I think that under no circumstances will he allow himself to be influenced by any public pressure,” he said.

‘But if something opens up during the bilateral talks between Turkey and the United States, it might have an impact.’

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Despite these obstacles, Mr Niinistö said Finland and Sweden heard many encouraging statements from Nato last spring but admitted the delay has become a headache for the countries.

‘I can see that this has already become a problem for Nato. Clearly, Nato countries have also been surprised,’ Mr Niinisto admitted.

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Turkey and Hungary are currently against the move.