This is a major milestone in Swedish history, putting an end to two centuries of neutrality and military non-alignment for the country.
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After two years of negotiations, Sweden officially became the 32nd member of NATO on Thursday March 7. A major step which puts an end to two centuries of neutrality and military non-alignment for the country. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was traveling to Washington on Thursday, where the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, was to receive the ratification documents. The latter was obtained through a tough struggle, after long negotiations with certain members of the Alliance.
“Sweden is now a member of NATO. Thank you to all Allies for welcoming us as their 32nd member. We will strive to achieve unity, solidarity and burden-sharing, and we will fully adhere to the values of the Washington Treaty: liberty, democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. Stronger together“wrote Ulf Kristersson on X.
Sweden “better protected against Russian evil”
American President Joe Biden assured that NATO was “stronger than ever” with the accession of Sweden. Russian President Vladimir Putin “wanted to divide” the Alliance by attacking Ukraine, but the transatlantic organization is on the contrary “more united, determined and dynamic than ever”he further affirmed.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said for his part that Sweden was “better protected against Russian evil” now that it had officially joined NATO, which kyiv hopes to do one day.