A flag-raising ceremony Monday morning marked Sweden's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as its 32nd member.Dignitaries — including Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Swedish Crown Princess Victoria, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, and Swedish government ministers and party leaders — were on hand at NATO's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, as officers raised Sweden’s flag in the ceremony.
With Sweden joining, NATO now has a strategic ring of territory around the Baltic Sea. Russian leader Vladimir Putin said he ordered the invasion of Ukraine two years ago in part because of NATO’s eastward expansion toward Russia. But the war has since spurred more countries to join the alliance.
Sweden, usually neutral, officially joined the alliance last week, spurred on by security concerns with the invasion. The Scandinavian nation’s move comes after its neighbor Finland joined the alliance in April 2023, also ending years of military nonalignment.
“The Russian, brutal, full-scale invasion against Ukraine united Sweden behind the conclusion that a full-fledged NATO membership is the only reasonable choice,” Kristersson said during the ceremonies Monday.
