Two years after submitting its application, linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sweden formally joined NATO on Thursday. It becomes the 32nd member country and will be able to benefit from the protection of the Alliance.
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For Stockholm, it is a historic change, by officially integrating NATO on Thursday March 7, the kingdom puts an end to a neutrality which dates back to the Napoleonic wars and which continued at the end of the Cold War through the doctrine of military non-alignment. Sweden has not experienced conflict since 1814! Changing gear after two centuries of consistency is still a symbol.
So Sweden is now “better protected against Russian evil“, said Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, who hopes to follow the example. She will now be able to benefit from the protection of the Alliance, via Article 5 and put her own forces at the service of the collective.
Gradual militarization
Sweden is not starting from scratch. Although it has no land border with Russia, its coasts are only a stone’s throw from the enclave of Kaliningrad. The annexation of Crimea ten years ago was the trigger. Sweden understood that it had to prepare to defend itself. For ten years therefore, its military spending has increased.
NATO asks its members to devote at least 2% of their GDP to defense? Sweden will largely achieve them this year while many historical members are not yet there.
The country has an army of 50,000 soldiers, half of whom are reservists. But for 10 million inhabitants the ratio is very important. Here again, Sweden is not starting from scratch. She is used to collaborating with NATO. Since Sunday she has also participated in a major military exercise in Lapland. 20,000 soldiers, 13 different countries. This is to test their ability to coordinate in the face of a common enemy.
In addition to its NATO candidacy, Sweden signed an agreement in December authorizing the United States to have access to 17 military bases on its soil.
What does Sweden bring to NATO? A strategic position facing Russia.
Sweden in NATO is the last piece of the puzzle, which was missing in Northern Europe. The Alliance now controls almost the entire Baltic Sea, which on its eastern flank borders the Baltic countries (there are three, don’t forget): Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, in a frontal position with Moscow. Until now, they ran the risk of finding themselves isolated in the face of a possible attack by Kremlin forces.
Generally speaking, Sweden’s accession, still unimaginable three years ago, strengthens the Alliance, which becomes “quite an impressive force with the combined might of 32 countries, from Turkey south to Svalbard” in the north, described the head of the Swedish army, Jonny Lindfors, to the newspaper Dagens Nyheter in December 2023. A necessary consolidation after Donald Trump’s latest threats against the Alliance.
“Too many sacrifices”
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson declared in January that his country was ready to provide troops to NATO forces in Latvia. Sweden also brings the island of Gotland, located between the Swedish coasts and Latvia, remilitarized since 2018.
A majority of Swedes believe that their country has made “too many sacrifices” to become a member of NATO, according to a poll by SR radio, but they recognize that Sweden’s security has strengthened. For Antony Blinken, the American secretary of state, “there is no better example to demonstrate the strategic debacle that its invasion of Ukraine has become for Russia“.
The threat of Russian countermeasures
Helsinki and Stockholm had announced at the same time their candidacy to join NATO in 2022. If Sweden’s accession process was slowed down by negotiations with Turkey, which accused it of being too lenient towards Kurdish refugee activists on its soil, and Hungary, Finland was able to join in April 2023. Moscow then threatened Helsinki with “countermeasures“…and Finland had had to deal with an influx of migrants on its eastern border. The same warning was sent last week to Sweden. It is not clear what forms this time these will take.”countermeasures“. On Monday, as a sign of resistance, the blue and yellow Swedish flag will be raised in front of NATO headquarters in Brussels.