Sweden’s entry into NATO deals a serious blow to Russia

Moscow said it would take indefinite measures to improve its defense against new attacks NATO expanded.

Sweden formally joined NATO on Thursday, becoming its 32nd member, two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and strongly strengthening itself, along with Finlandthe deterrent capacity of the military alliance in the Baltic and North Sea.

With the incorporation of the new Nordic member states – Finland joined last year – the president of Russia, Vladimir Putinit now faces an enlarged and motivated NATO, which no longer dreams of permanent peace, but rather faces years of attempts to contain a newly aggressive imperial Russia.

Thursday, after months of uncertainty caused by the hesitations of the Türkiye and HungarySweden officially became a member by submitting its legal documentation – its instrument of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty – to the US State Department in Washington.

In a brief ceremony, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkenreceived the documents from Ulf Kristersson, the Swedish Prime Minister, and said:

“Good things come to those who wait.” Blinken said “everything changed” after the Russian invasion.

“The Swedes understood something very profound: that if Putin was willing to try to wipe a neighbor off the map, maybe he wouldn’t stop there.”

Blinken said Sweden’s membership was a clear example “of the strategic debacle that Ukraine has become for Russia,” adding:

“Everything Putin intended to avoid, actually made him fall with his actions, with his aggression.

Kristersson said that “today is a truly historic day.”

Sweden, he said, “will defend freedom together with the countries closest to us, both in terms of geography, culture and values”.

He promised that Sweden, which largely dismantled its ground forces after 1989 but maintained a strong air force and navy, would soon meet NATO’s goal of spending 2% of GDP on the military.

NATO plans a ceremony to raise the Swedish flag on Monday at its headquarters in Brussels, as well as at NATO commands in Europe and North America.

historic day

Jens Stoltenbergthe Secretary General of NATO called it a “historic day”.

In a statement, he said that “Sweden will now take its rightful place at the NATO table, with an equal say in shaping NATO policies and decisions. After more than 200 years of non-alignment, Sweden now enjoys the protection that Article 5 guarantees, the maximum guarantee of freedom and security for the allies”.

Sweden, he continued, “makes NATO stronger, Sweden safer and the entire alliance more protected.”

The Russian government said it will now take indefinite measures to improve its defense against the newly expanded NATO, which has, with Sweden and Finland, a Land border with Russia much larger than before.

“Sweden brings predictability and eliminates any uncertainty about how we would act in a crisis or war,” said Robert Dalsjo, director of studies at the Swedish Defense Research Agency.

Given the geography of Sweden, which includes Gotland, the island that helps control the entry into the Baltic Seamembership “will make defense and deterrence much easier to implement,” he said.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion two years ago, Finland, with its long border with Russia, saw its most imminent danger.

The Swedes too, but at the same time they were convinced, especially on the political left, by a feeling of moral indignation, that Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, was trying to destroy a peaceful and sovereign neighbor.

“Overall, the feeling is that we will be safer,” said Anna Wieslander of Sweden, director of Northern Europe at the Atlantic Council.

With Sweden and Finland together in NATO, it will be much easier to contain the Russian navy in the Baltic Sea and monitor the Far North.

Russia still holds two-thirds of its second-strike nuclear weapons there, on the Kola Peninsula.

Sweden, with its advanced high-tech defense industry, produces its own excellent fighter aircraft, naval corvettes and submarines, designed to operate in the harsh environment of the Baltic Sea.

Has already started to develop and build a new class of submarines modern and larger corvettes for coastal and air defense.

By joining NATO, it will now be easier to coordinate with Finland and Denmark, which also have key islands in the Baltic, and with Norway.

Sweden could also join NATO’s multinational vanguard brigade in Latvia, set to deploy allied soldiers in all alliance countries bordering Russia.

Sweden’s main task, Wieslander said, will be to help monitor the Baltic and the airspace above Kaliningrad; ensure the security of Gothenburg, which is essential for supplies and reinforcements; and serve as a staging area for U.S. and NATO soldiers, with arrangements for advance placement of equipment, ammunition, supplies and field hospitals.

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