NATO HQ Raises Swedish Flag, Strengthening Baltic Region Against Russian Threat

london — Sweden’s flag was raised in a ceremony Monday at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels after it officially joined the Western defensive alliance last week, ending its long-held policy of military nonalignment.

“We are now an ally among allies. After more than 200 years of military nonalignment, this is a historic step but also a very natural step. We’ve been preparing for decades and in details for the last two years,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at a news conference ahead of the ceremony.

“With this membership, Sweden has come home. Home to the security cooperation of democracies. Home to the security cooperation of our good neighbors. Today, I’d like to say thank you to all of our allies. We have chosen you, and you have chosen us. All for one, one for all,” Kristersson added.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the alliance’s 32nd member.

“Sweden’s accession shows again that NATO’s door remains open. No one can close it. Every nation has the right to choose its own path, and we all choose the path of freedom and democracy. The brave people of Ukraine are fighting for these values as we speak,” Stoltenberg said.

Ratification delay

Sweden and Finland simultaneously applied to join NATO in May 2022, three months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Finland — which shares a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia — joined NATO relatively quickly, in April 2023.

However, Sweden’s bid was delayed by NATO members Turkey and Hungary. Ankara accused Sweden of harboring Kurdish separatists, whom it considers terrorists. The passing of a new anti-terrorism law in Sweden persuaded Turkey to ratify its accession to the alliance.

Budapest appeared to object to Swedish criticisms of a perceived democratic backsliding in Hungary. A meeting between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Swedish counterpart last month in Budapest, and a new bilateral defense deal, overcame those differences — and Hungarian lawmakers approved Sweden’s application on February 26.

Strategic change

After two centuries of military nonalignment, NATO membership marks a significant change for Sweden and its people. Opinion polls show most Swedes approve of the change.

“A couple years ago, I was really against Sweden joining NATO, because I was really for this neutrality policy that we have. But now … I guess we had to take a stance, really,” 24-year-old Stockholm student Carl Fredrik Aspegren told Reuters.

Information technology worker Hakan Yucel, 54, agreed.

“I think it feels much safer now. Before, we were outside and felt a little bit alone,” he said.

Baltic defense

Sweden is due to launch a fleet of new submarines by 2028 designed to protect vulnerable subsea infrastructure in the Baltic. Its accession brings valuable military capabilities to NATO, according to Barbara Kunz, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

“With all Nordic countries now being members of NATO and also the Baltic states being members of NATO, that allows for real holistic planning of the defense of Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea area. Sweden is particularly qualified to operate in the Baltic Sea, which is a very special region. It’s like shallow waters in which you can’t really see that well, so Sweden is very good at that,” Kunz told Reuters.

NATO exercises

Swedish forces are already training in the Norwegian Arctic with NATO allies, part of the military exercise Steadfast Defender 2024, the alliance’s largest military drills since the Cold War, with some 90,000 troops taking part.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he intends to strengthen his country’s military presence along its western borders to, in his words, “neutralize threats associated with the next expansion of NATO.”

NATO said it is a defensive alliance and highlights that it was Russia’s unprovoked, illegal invasion of Ukraine that prompted Sweden and Finland to seek membership.
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