After that of Finland on Sunday, Sweden formalized its candidacy for NATO on Monday, marking the historic shift of the two non-aligned countries to the bosom of the alliance, as a direct result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
After nearly two centuries of neutrality and then of military non-alignment, “we are leaving an era to enter a new one”, underlined the Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson during a press conference.
Stockholm expects to be a member within a year at most, she said as NATO tries to calm a last-minute hostility displayed by Turkey.
The unanimity and the parliamentary ratification of the thirty current members of the alliance is necessary to bring in a new member.
The prospect of a Swedish-Finnish entry into NATO “does not constitute an immediate threat”, Vladimir Putin said on Monday, after several statements expressing Moscow’s irritation in recent days.
But Russia would react to deployments of “military infrastructure” in the two Nordic countries, warned the Russian president.
The Swedish Prime Minister had held discussions with party leaders in Parliament on Monday morning, only to find that she had a large majority.
With the historic rocking of the social democratic party in power on Sunday, six of the eight parties in the Swedish Parliament are now in favor of membership, representing a theoretical majority of 304 deputies out of a total of 349, or more than 85%.
Sweden’s decision is clearly influenced by Finland’s bid, Ms Andersson acknowledged.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Helsinki has been in the lead for NATO membership, with Sweden more of a follower.
If the Scandinavian country became the only non-NATO country around the Baltic Sea, it would find itself “in a very vulnerable position”, she pleaded before the deputies, citing the risk of seeing “Russia increase the pressure on Sweden”.
Only members benefit from the NATO umbrella, not candidates, which prompted Stockholm and Helsinki to seek security assurances from several Alliance countries.
Their Nordic neighbors – Norway, Denmark and Iceland, all three already members of NATO – promised Monday to assist Sweden and Finland “by all means necessary” in the event of aggression.
“Serious mistake”
The candidacies of Sweden and Finland to NATO in reaction to the Russian offensive against Ukraine constitute a “serious error” whose “consequences will have far-reaching consequences”, judged on Monday the Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs foreigners, Sergei Ryabkov.
While the Kremlin justified its invasion of Ukraine by the risk of extending NATO to its doors, Finland’s membership will lengthen the border between Russia and the countries of the alliance by some 1,300 kilometers.
“We are convinced that the entry into NATO of Finland and Sweden will neither strengthen nor improve the security architecture of our continent,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
With Sweden in addition, the Baltic Sea would become a “NATO lake”, apart from Russian waters off the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and Saint Petersburg.
The Eduskunta, the Finnish Parliament, is conducting a marathon session on Monday to examine the candidacy officially presented on Sunday by the executive, before a vote which will take place no earlier than Tuesday.
According to the latest Finnish media reports, at least 85% of the 200 elected will vote yes to the NATO candidacy.
“The only country that threatens European security and openly leads a war of aggression is Russia,” said Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin opening the debate.
“Our security environment has fundamentally changed,” she said.
Due to the large number of interventions planned – more than 150 – the vote cannot take place on Monday, warned the president of the chamber Matti Vanhanen.
Formal applications are to be forwarded to NATO HQ later in the week, with Stockholm and Helsinki planning for simultaneous application.
NATO had assured that the two countries would be welcomed “with open arms”, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to blur the prospect of unanimity without difficulty, saying he was hostile to the Swedish-Finnish entry.
Turkey accuses them – and especially Stockholm – of showing too much leniency vis-à-vis the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK, although it is on the EU list of terrorist organizations.
A Swedish diplomatic delegation will be sent to “see how the issue can be resolved,” Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist announced on Monday. »