Sweden officially joined NATO on Thursday, the US State Department announced.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was in Washington on Thursday to hand over the final documents for joining NATO. Not much later, the State Department announced that all conditions had been met. Thus, Sweden became the 32nd member of the treaty organisation on Thursday.
Sweden, like Finland, applied for NATO membership in May 2022, three months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In doing so, Sweden broke its policy of neutrality since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in the 19th century and military non-alignment since the end of the Cold War. Sweden contributes to international peacekeeping forces but has not been at war since a conflict with Norway in 1814.
Finnish membership was approved last year, but the process has been a bit bumpier for Sweden as Turkey and Hungary put the brakes on for a long time.
Turkey delayed ratification because of Stockholm's alleged support for groups the former deemed "terrorists", mainly referring to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party. To satisfy Turkey, Sweden reformed the constitution and adopted a new anti-terrorism law. In late February, the two countries finally ratified Sweden's accession.
Sweden's accession is bad news for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He had wanted his invasion to prevent NATO from expanding further eastwards.
In total, NATO today consists of 32 member states, 30 of which are in Europe, plus the United States and Canada.
