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Sweden has officially become the 32nd member of the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization after the document formalizing Stockholm’s accession to the bloc entered into force on Thursday.
The accession ceremony will be held in Washington, where Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will submit his country’s accession documents to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
In the accession document published by the US Department of State, it is declared that all the conditions for Sweden’s entry into NATO have been fulfilled and that the protocol signifying Stockholm’s membership has entered into force on March 7, 2024.
In a post on X, Kristersson also declared that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had informed him that all bloc members have formally accepted Sweden’s accession protocol and had invited Stockholm to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Later on Thursday, Oslo is set to make a final formal decision on joining the bloc, which will be followed by a news conference. After that, Kristersson is set to issue an address to the nation, according to Swedish Radio.
Sweden’s accession to NATO comes after Stockholm and Helsinki abandoned their longstanding policies of non-alignment and submitted bids to join the US-led military alliance in 2022, citing security concerns following the launch of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
The two Scandinavian nations, however, could only join the bloc after their bids were ratified by all current members of the alliance. Hungary and Türkiye initially objected to welcoming the two countries, with Ankara accusing Sweden and Finland of harboring members of armed groups designated as terrorists under Turkish law.
Finland and Sweden eventually reformed their anti-terrorism laws and both their bids were ultimately ratified by Türkiye and Hungary. Finland became the 31st member of NATO in April 2023.
Meanwhile, Russia has insisted that NATO’s continued expansion poses a threat to its national security and is destabilizing Europe, making it less safe. Moscow has pointed out that it did not have any issues with the two Scandinavian countries before they decided to join the US-led bloc, but will now be forced to respond by reorganizing and strengthening its armed forces in the region.
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