Sweden officially joins NATO after completing its accession process, ending decades of neutrality

The White House said that having Sweden as a NATO ally “will make the United States and our allies even safer.”

“NATO is the most powerful defensive alliance in the history of the world, and it is as critical today to ensuring the security of our citizens as it was 75 years ago when our alliance was founded out of the wreckage of World War II,” it said in a statement.

Sweden, along with Finland, which joined NATO last year, both abandoned long-standing military neutrality that was a hallmark of the Nordic states’ Cold War foreign policy after Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022.

Biden, in his speech to Congress, is expected to cite Sweden’s accession to NATO as evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intent to divide and weaken the alliance has failed as a direct result of the Ukraine invasion. And, the Democratic president is expected to use Sweden’s decision to join to step up calls for reluctant Republicans to approved stalled military assistance to Ukraine as the war enters its third year.

Sweden’s membership had been held up due to objections by NATO members Turkey and Hungary. Turkey expressed concern that Sweden was harboring and not taking enough action against Kurdish groups that it regards as terrorists, and Hungary’s populist President Viktor Orban has shown pro-Russian sentiment and not shared the alliance’s determination to support Ukraine.

After months of delay, Turkey ratified Sweden’s admission earlier this year, and Hungary did so this week.

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Cook reported from Brussels..

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Follow the AP’s coverage of NATO at https://apnews.com/hub/nato.

Matthew Lee And Lorne Cook, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Sweden officially joins NATO after completing its accession process, ending decades of neutrality

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