Sweden has formally joined NATO as its 32nd member, marking a significant milestone for both the neutral country and the Western military alliance
Stockholm’s ratification process was finally completed in Washington yesterday after a drawn-out process that has taken nearly two years.
For Sweden, it marks the end of a 20-month-long wait that started in May 2022 when it submitted its application to join alongside Finland, prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of that year. Finland became NATO’s 31st member last year.
Ratification also marks a historic sea change in Sweden’s national and international identity, as it shifts away from the neutrality that started at the end of the Cold War.
The ratification cements Nato’s control of the Nordic region, with all countries now members, and makes the Baltic an entirely “Nato sea”.
The process was completed at about 5.30 pm Swedish time, when the Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, and the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, presided at a ceremony in which Sweden’s “instrument of accession” to the alliance was officially deposited at the state department.
