Sweden Deposits NATO Accession Documents... Officially Joins as 32nd Member State

On the 7th (local time), Sweden officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as its 32nd member country. Accordingly, Sweden will be subject to Article 5 of NATO's collective defense clause.

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who is visiting the United States, delivered the official instrument of accession agreeing to the NATO founding treaty to the State Department on the same day. Delivering the official accession document to the United States is the final procedure for NATO membership. The United States is the depositary state for NATO treaty accession documents of new member countries.

Two years ago, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Sweden abandoned its non-alignment policy and applied for NATO membership together with Finland. Subsequently, Finland became the 31st member country last April after about 11 months, but Sweden's accession was relatively delayed as T?rkiye and Hungary blocked it until the last moment.

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, described it as a "historic day" in a statement and praised Sweden as a country with a capable military and a top-tier defense industry.

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