Sweden on Thursday became the 32nd member of NATO in the shadow of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, turning the page on two centuries of non-alignment and capping two years of torturous diplomacy.
Days after Hungary followed key holdout Turkey and became the last NATO member to sign off, Sweden ceremonially handed over accession documents to the United States, the leading force of the transatlantic alliance that provides joint security for all.
“It is a major step but, at the same time, a very natural step,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at the State Department.
The accession “is a victory for freedom today. Sweden has made a free, democratic, sovereign and united choice to join NATO,” he said.
Sweden and Finland, while militarily intertwined with the United States and both members of the European Union, had historically steered clear of officially joining NATO, formed in the Cold War to unite against the Soviet Union.
Finland and Sweden launched a joint bid shortly after the invasion of Ukraine, which itself had unsuccessfully sought to join NATO — an alliance that under Article 5, considers an attack on one member an attack on all.
Finland successfully joined in April 2023, but Sweden’s membership was stalled by Turkey.
“Good things come to those who wait,” Blinken said as he received the documents from Sweden. “Some doubted we’d get here; we never did.”
With AFP
