Sweden Officially Joins NATO, PM Kristersson: We Have Allies And Support

JAKARTA - Sweden officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Thursday, two years after Russia's access to Ukraine led Stockholm to conclude that support for the alliance was the best safety guarantee for Scandinavian countries.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson handed over the final documentation of accession to the United States Government through Foreign Minister Antony Blinken, the final step in the protracted process of getting the support of all members to join the military alliance.

"Good things will come to those waiting," Foreign Minister Blinken said when receiving Swedish accession documents from PM Kristersson.

Foreign Minister Blinken further said everything had changed after Russia's massive invasion of Ukraine, citing polls showing major changes in Swedish public opinion about joining NATO.

"The Swedish are aware of something very deep: if (President) Putin is willing to try to remove a neighboring country from the map, then he may not stop there," he explained.

For NATO, the joining of Sweden and Finland, which share a 1,340 km (830 miles) long border with Russia, is the most significant addition in decades. It is also a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is trying to prevent further alliance strengthening.

Sweden will benefit from the alliance's joint defense guarantees, which states that the attack on one member is considered an attack on all members.

"Swedia is currently a safer country than yesterday. We have allies. We have support," PM Kristersson said in his speech.

"We have taken insurance in the Western defense alliance," he said.

PM Kristersson thanked his allies for welcoming Sweden into the bloc.

"We will seek unity, solidarity, and burden sharing, and will fully comply with the values of the Washington Agreement: freedom, democracy, freedom of the individual, and the rule of law. It is stronger together," he said in a statement, quoted by CNN.

Separately, US President Joe Biden, in a statement, said the joining of Sweden made NATO "more united, determined, and dynamic than ever before," adding Sweden and Finland's entry into the alliance meant the addition of "two high-capable militaries."

Sweden added state-of-the-art submarines and a large domestically produced Gripen fighter jet fleet to NATO forces, and is an important liaison between the Atlantic and the Baltic.

"Swedish acceleration makes NATO stronger, Sweden safer, and the entire Alliance safer," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Russia has threatened to take political and military-technical countermeasures, in response to Sweden's choice of joining NATO.