Sweden formally joins NATO, becomes 32nd member

Sweden on Thursday became the 32nd member of NATO with the handover of documents at a ceremony in Washington, a historic move that Secretary of State Antony Blinken said marked a “strategic debacle” by Russia.

“Good things come to those who wait,” Blinken said as he accepted the accession documents from Sweden’s prime minister, following ratification by the 31 other alliance members.

“I think if you step back and think of where we were three years ago, none of this was foreordained,” Blinken said of Sweden joining NATO.

There is “no clearer example than today of the strategic debacle that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has become for Russia,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sweden officially joined NATO on Thursday after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spurred it to rethink its defence policy and abandon its long-held position of neutrality.

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Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson formally handed over accession documents to the US State Department in Washington, DC, the final step of a months-long process to gain the approval of all members to allow his country to become the alliance’s 32nd member.

The documents are put into a vault at the State Department, which serves as the treaty depositary for NATO.

“With the receipt of this instrument of accession let me be the very first to welcome Sweden as a party to the Washington Treaty and the 32nd member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said alongside Kristersson.

Kristersson thanked his allies for welcoming Sweden into the bloc.

“We will strive for unity, solidarity and burden-sharing, and will fully adhere to the Washington Treaty values: freedom, democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. Stronger together,” he said in a statement.

Sweden and its neighbour Finland – which shares a 1,300-kilometer (830 mile) border with Russia – both bid to join the bloc after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Finland officially joined in April 2023, more than doubling NATO’s border with Russia in a blow to President Vladimir Putin who has sought to prevent any growth of the alliance.