Sweden became the 32nd member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Thursday, having submitted its accession documents during a ceremony in Washington. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson delivered the final documents for accession to the U.S. administration, marking the last step in a lengthy process to secure approval from all members to join the military alliance. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, upon receiving the accession documents from Kristersson, stated, "Good things come to those who wait." Blinken added, "Everything has changed" following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, citing polls that showed a significant shift in Swedish public opinion regarding NATO membership. He noted, "The Swedish people recognize something crucial. If Putin is willing to attempt to erase a neighboring country from the map, he may not stop there."
The accession of Sweden and Finland, which share a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia, represents the most significant expansion of NATO in decades and is a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sought to obstruct any further enhancement of the alliance. For his part, Kristersson remarked, "This is truly a historic day. Sweden is now a member of NATO," adding that "we will defend freedom alongside the countries closest to us, both geographically and those that share our culture and values." Sweden will benefit from the collective defense guarantees provided by the alliance, under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.
Russia has threatened to take unspecified "political and military-technical countermeasures" in response to Sweden’s membership. Sweden contributes to international peacekeeping forces but has not experienced war since its conflict with Norway in 1814. Finland and Sweden simultaneously announced their candidacies for NATO membership in May 2022.
