Sweden formally joined NATO as the 32nd member of the transatlantic military alliance, ending decades of post-World War II neutrality and policy non-alignment.
The Nordic country changed its stance after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The invasion earlier prompted Finland, which shares a 1,300-kilometer (830-mile) border with Russia, to become NATO’s 31st member last year.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson formally handed accession documents to the U.S. State Department in Washington, DC, on March 7, 2024. Handing these documents was the final step of a months-long process to gain the approval of all NATO members to become the alliance’s 32nd member. The documents are put into a vault at the U.S. State Department, which serves as the treaty depositary for NATO.
“Today is a truly historic day. Sweden is now a member of NATO,” Ulf Kristersson said. “We are humble but we are also proud. Unity and solidarity will be a guiding light. Sweden is now leaving 200 years of neutrality and military non-alignment behind. it is a major step but a very natural step.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken received the documents, which he said were the product of “nearly two years of tireless diplomacy” by NATO members.
Blinken presided at a ceremony in which Sweden’s “instrument of accession” to the alliance was officially deposited at the State Department. “This is a historic moment for Sweden. It’s historic for the alliance. It’s historic for the transatlantic relationship,” Blinken said. “Our NATO alliance is now stronger, larger than it’s ever been.”
U.S. President Joe Biden congratulated Sweden on its admission and said it was a sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intervention in Ukraine had united, rather than divided, the alliance. “When Putin launched his brutal war of aggression against the people of Ukraine, he thought he could weaken Europe and divide NATO,” Biden said in a statement.
“Instead, in May 2022, Sweden and Finland — two of our close partners, with two highly capable militaries — made the historic decision to apply for full NATO membership,” Biden said. ”With the addition of Sweden today, NATO stands more united, determined, and dynamic than ever — now 32 nations strong.”
The NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, was among the first to congratulate Sweden. “It’s official – Sweden is now the 32nd member of Nato, taking its rightful place at our table,” he wrote on social media. “Sweden’s accession makes Nato stronger, Sweden safer, and the whole alliance more secure.”
NATO members
NATO’s founding treaty, best known as the Washington Treaty, was signed by 12 members from Europe and North America: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Since then, nineteen countries have joined the bloc: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey. Sweden is NATO alliance’s 32nd member.
