President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an’s decision to press ahead with his opposition to Sweden and Finland’s bids to join Nato has thrown a spanner in the works of a plan to rapidly admit the Nordic countries to the western military alliance.

Turkish officials had spent the weekend playing down the prospect that Ankara, a Nato member since 1952, would scupper their entry by vetoing it — a view that had been echoed by western officials. But the Turkish president on Monday described Sweden and Finland as “incubators” for terrorist groups and told their foreign ministers not to bother with a planned visit to his country in the days ahead.

“They are coming to convince us. I’m sorry, but don’t waste your time,” he told a press conference on Monday night. “It’s not possible to say yes to this.”