Sweden joined NATO in Washington on the 7th of March 2024, a historic moment, two years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Sweden was forced to rethink its national security policy. It concluded that the support for the alliance was the Scandinavian nation's best guarantee of safety.
It marked a 20 month long wait for Sweden from May 2022, when it submitted its application to join alongside Finland.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson handed over the final documentation to the U.S. government as the last step in a drawn-out process to secure the backing of all members to join the military alliance.
Sweden has officially became the 32nd member of Nato, in a landmark moment for the historically neutral country and the western military alliance. Finland became Nato’s 31st member last year. The ratification also marks Sweden’s national and international identity in the process of alliance with the NATO which allows its control on the Nordic region and the Baltic region an entirely a NATO sea. Sweden had a 200 year old history of neutrality and military non-alignment and leaves it behind taking this major historical move.
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, applauded Sweden. The journey to NATO membership of Sweden journey started under former prime minister Magdalena Andersson, of the Swedish Social Democrat party, and was taken over in 2022 by her successor, Kristersson, of the Moderate party.
