Sweden joins Nato as Russia’s war in Ukraine prompts security rethink
- Sweden became the 32nd member of Nato in the shadow of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
- Nordic nation adds its cutting-edge submarines and a sizeable fleet of fighter jets to Nato
Sweden joined Nato in Washington on Thursday, two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced it to rethink its national security policy and conclude that support for the alliance was the Scandinavian nation’s best guarantee of safety.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson handed over the final documentation to the US government on Thursday, the last step in a drawn-out process to secure the backing of all members to join the military alliance.
“Good things come to those who wait,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said as he received Sweden’s accession documents from Kristersson.
Blinken said “everything changed” after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, citing polls showing a massive shift in Swedish public opinion on joining Nato.
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“Swedes realised something very profound: that if Putin was willing to try to erase one neighbour from the map, then he might well not stop there.”