By EFE
07 Mar 2024, 1:00 PM EST
Sweden officially joined NATO this Thursday by depositing the accession document to the Atlantic Alliance in Washington DC.
The Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, presented the accession instrument to the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in the American capital, certifying his historic entry into the alliance.
Blinken assured that it is an honor “to be the first to welcome” Sweden as the thirty-second member of NATO, which is expanding for the second time since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine just over two years ago, after the Finland’s entry the previous year.
“Sweden provides capabilities in the Arctic and the Baltic Sea,” Blinken said after the ceremony for handing over the instrument of accession. “No one thought we would get here, and here we are.”
“NATO is now stronger than ever,” the US official added. “Sweden has a 200-year history of non-alignment and before the Russian invasion of Ukraine less than one in three Swedes supported membership,” Blinken recalled.
“Then everything changed: after the invasion up to three out of every four Swedes wanted this incorporation,” said the head of US diplomacy. “The Swedish people stood up and supported not only the defense of their country but also the common responsibility of all for peace,” he added.
Kristersson assured that this day is “historic” for the country, which completes the incorporation of all the Nordic countries under the NATO umbrella and completes the inclusion of practically the entire Baltic Sea in the alliance, something of great strategic importance.
“Today is a day of victory for freedom. “Sweden has made a free, democratic and sovereign decision,” said the Swedish president.
The prime minister thanked the bipartisan support in the US Congress and President Joe Biden and the other members of the alliance for this entry.
“We will share responsibilities, obligations and risks with other allies,” he stated.
“We are grateful and also proud. We will meet the high expectations of all NATO allies,” she added. “United we will remain firm. “Unity and solidarity will be the guiding lights of Sweden as a member of NATO.”
With the receipt of the protocol of accession to the Alliance by the State Department in Washington, Sweden completes its turn in foreign policy and closes two centuries of military non-alignment.
Sweden, which thus becomes member number 32, had already been taking steps to get closer to NATO for three decades, coinciding with the end of the Cold War, such as subscribing to the Alliance’s Partnership for Peace initiative, which It allowed the participation of Swedish soldiers in the missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan.