Sweden military readies for ‘necessary’ NATO membership

STOCKHOLM: As Sweden prepares to join NATO, thereby ending 200 years of neutrality and military non-alignment, the military says it is ready for the “necessary” move.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom travelled to Washington on Wednesday (March 6) where they are expected to complete the process of joining NATO.

Sweden will immediately become NATO’s 32nd member when it deposits the formal documentation.

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“I feel good. It’s been a long journey, of course, and it’s a political decision that we in the armed forces in the Swedish Navy really stand by, and unfortunately it’s a necessary move, a big move in Swedish national policy, but for sure it’s about the security environment in our part of Europe,” said the Commander of Sweden’s Fourth Naval Flotilla, Anders Backstrom, speaking at the Berga Naval Base near Stockholm.

After years of warning Sweden and Finland they should not join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has achieved what President Vladimir Putin sought to avert – an expansion of the alliance, Western leaders have said.

While Sweden has increased cooperation with NATO in recent decades, contributing to operations in places such as Afghanistan, its membership is set to simplify defence planning and cooperation on the alliance’s northern flank.

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As a NATO member Sweden, with its cutting-edge submarines tailored to Baltic Sea conditions and Gripen fighter jets, will be a crucial link between the Atlantic and the Baltic states in times of crisis.

It will benefit from the alliance’s common defence guarantee under which an attack on one member is regarded as an attack on all.

Russia said it would adopt unspecified military, technical and other countermeasures in response to Swedish NATO membership.