Sweden officially joined the Atlantic Alliance on Thursday as its 32nd member, as security concerns in Europe grew following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Stockholm turns the page on two centuries of military non-alignment with the great powers by formalizing its accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Thursday.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Secretary of State Antony Blinken presided over a ceremony where Sweden’s membership in the Alliance was officially sealed at the State Department.
“Today is truly a historic day“, said Ulf Kristersson. “We are humbled, but also proud. We will meet the high expectations of all NATO allies. We are united.”
“This is a historic moment for Sweden. This is a historic moment for the alliance. This is a historic moment for transatlantic relations“said Antony Blinken.”Our alliance with NATO is now stronger and broader than ever before.” Later Thursday, Ulf Kristersson was scheduled to visit the White House and be the guest of honor in Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
President Joe Biden congratulated Sweden on its admission and said it was a sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intervention in Ukraine had united the alliance rather than dividing it.
“When Vladimir Putin launched his brutal war of aggression against the Ukrainian people, he thought he could weaken Europe and divide NATO” Joe Biden said in a statement, which he is expected to echo in his State of the Union address to Congress on Thursday.
“Sweden will now take its rightful place at the NATO table, with an equal say in the development of Alliance policies and decisions.“, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The Swedish flag will be raised on Monday in front of the military organization’s headquarters in Brussels.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty requires all members to come to the aid of an ally whose territory or security is threatened. It has only been activated once by the United States after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Sweden, along with Finland, which joined NATO last year, both abandoned the long-standing military neutrality that was a feature of the Nordic states’ foreign policy during the Cold War, following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia at the beginning of 2022.
Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts have pledged that Ukraine will one day join the Alliance.
Sweden’s accession had been delayed due to objections from NATO members Turkey and Hungary. Turkey was concerned that Sweden was harboring Kurdish groups it considers terrorists and was not taking enough action against them. Hungarian populist President Viktor Orban has been pro-Russian and has not shared the alliance’s determination to support Ukraine. After months of delay, Turkey ratified Sweden’s admission earlier this year, and Hungary did so this week.