The flag of Sweden, now a member of NATO, was raised at the headquarters of the military alliance

The country became the 32nd member of NATO. Despite the rain, the Swedish flag was raised on Monday March 11 at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, between those of Spain and Turkey, the epilogue of a long journey for this Scandinavian country which decided to join the military organization after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Irony of history: it is Turkey which has long blocked the ratification of Sweden’s membership in the North Atlantic alliance.

“NATO is bigger and stronger”launched NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, shortly before the ceremony. “When President Putin launched his invasion two years ago, he wanted less NATO and more control over his neighbors. He wanted to destroy Ukraine as a sovereign state. But he failed.”he declared in the presence of Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.