Sweden becomes the member of NATO on March 7,2024. Earlier, 31 countries were a part of NATO, and after Sweden’s membership in NATO the total number of member countries stands at 32.
Sweden is a Scandinavian country in Europe. Sweden had detached itself from military aggression years ago and chose to play a balancing role in the international political arena and ideologies. This is one of the major reasons why Sweden does not hold any key position in the United Nations. Since world war II, the country has followed the idea of nonalignment in peace. It maintained neutrality. However, after the Russian invasion in Ukraine, Sweden took a major step.
It had applied for its membership after the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Two years after the Russian invasion,the ceremony took place yesterday in Washington where the documents were handed over to Sweden. Ulf Kristersson, the Swedish Prime Minister said that ‘ unity and solidarity’ will be their guiding light.
After the Russian invasion , Sweden thought about its security policy and realised that it is best for them to join this alliance.
Views of Blinken
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said that everything changed after Russia’s invasion to Ukraine.He said that the Sweden realised that if Russia is trying to remove one of the neighbors , then they might continue the same with other neighbors.
What did Kristersoon say?
Prime Minister Kristersoon called it a “historic day.” He siad that “we will defend freedom together with the countries closest to us – both in terms of geography, culture and values.”
What is NATO?
Nato – the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – was formed by 12 countries, including the USA, UK. It was formed in 1949. The aim of NATO was to stop the expansion of Soviet Union, which had a communist ideology. The member countries in NATO, can together take military action even though NATO does not any army of its own. The alliance agrees whenevr threre is any attack on any member nation, the other member nations will collectively defend it.
Nato had 31 members , which included countries from Europe and North America, including the UK, US, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey and Spain. In 1991, many Eastern European countries joined: Albania, , Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Lithuania,Estonia and Latvia. The latest addition to the alliance is of Sweden.
Sweden and Finland
Since many years, Sweden and Finland had maintained a neutral stand. Both these nations applied for NATO membership in 2022, after the Russia-Ukraine war.
Sweden’s membership took a lot of time due to the opposition by Turkey and Hungary. While, Finland became the member in April, 2023.
Now, that both Sweden and Finland have got membership in NATO. The NATO will get an advantage of the large number of troops that Sweden and Finland will bring with themselves. Also, this will be the largest expansion of NATO after 1991 when many Eastern European countries joined after their split with Soviet Union.
How did US and Russia react to Sweden’s membership?
Joe Biden, the President of US said that NATO has become stronger than ever.
He said that “Nato stands more united, determined, and dynamic.”
On the other hand Russia has warned Sweden ,of some unmentioned military and political actions that it will take against Sweden.
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