Sweden became yesterday the 32nd member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (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 Turkiye 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.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that few would have expected Sweden as well as Finland to join Nato before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
There is “no clearer example than today of the strategic debacle that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has become for Russia”, Blinken said.
Sweden has not been involved in a war, including World War II, since the Napoleonic conflicts of the early 19th century.
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 the military alliance in April 2023, but Sweden’s membership was stalled by Turkiye.
“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.”
Russia has vowed “countermeasures” over Sweden’s entry into Nato, especially if the alliance’s troops and assets deploy in the country.
Sweden’s blue and golden-yellow flag is expected to be hoisted on Monday at the Brussels headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance.
“This is a historic day. Sweden will now take its rightful place at Nato’s table, with an equal say in shaping Nato policies and decisions,” Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement. “After over 200 years of non-alignment Sweden now enjoys the protection granted under Article 5, the ultimate guarantee of allies’ freedom and security.”
Hakan Yucel, 54, an IT worker in the Swedish capital said of the accession: “Before, we were outside and felt a little bit alone ... I think that the threat from Russia, it’s going to be much less now.”
“Joining Nato is really like buying insurance, at least as long as the United States is actually willing to be the insurance provider,” said Barbara Kunz, a researcher at defence think tank SIPRI.
“I guess we had to take a stance really, and I’m happy that we actually did and that we are safeguarded by Nato, because the tension with Russia has been growing for a couple of years,” said Carl Fredrik Aspegren, 28, a student in Stockholm.