Sweden officially joins NATO military alliance as 32nd member

Sweden officially joined NATO on Thursday and became the 32nd member of the military alliance, nearly two years after first applying to the military alliance, report CNN and BBC.

Meanwhile, the accession documents over the issue were formally handed over by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to the US State Department in Washington, DC.

The final step of a months-long process to become the alliance’s 32nd member came after all current members of NATO approved its accession to the military alliance, the Swedish government said in a statement on Thursday.

NATO later also confirmed the news by stating that its Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the country was “taking its rightful place at our table.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden in a statement congratulated Sweden for its admission. “It was a sign that the intervention of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine had united, rather than divided, the alliance.”

Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, received the documents. Blinken said the documents, which were the product of “nearly two years of tireless diplomacy” by NATO members, are put into a vault at the State Department. The US State Department serves as the treaty depositary for NATO.

Biden said he thought he could weaken Europe and divide NATO when Putin launched his brutal war of aggression against Ukraine’s people.

To hand over the final documents to the US, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited Washington this week.

Swedish first applied to join NATO in May 2022 after Russia’s war on Ukraine started.

Prompted by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, Finland became an official member of NATO last April.

Doubling the length of the alliance’s border with Russia in a blow to President Vladimir Putin, Finland officially joined in April 2023. However, Putin has sought to stem any growth of the alliance.

Finland however shares a 1,300-kilometre border with Russia.
To mark Sweden’s accession, a flag-raising ceremony will take place at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday.