On March 7, Sweden, feeling increasingly threatened by Russia’s unprovoked, ruthless war against Ukraine, abandoned its 200-year-old policy of nonalignment and officially joined the NATO defensive alliance as its thirty-second member.
“Before Putin’s re-invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022 … less than one-third of Swedes supported joining NATO,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “After the invasion, three-quarters of the Swedish people made clear their desire to join.”
“Swedes realized something very profound: that if Putin was willing to try to erase one neighbor from the map, then he might well not stop there. And if he was allowed to proceed with impunity, not only would his aggression potentially continue, but would-be aggressors everywhere would get the message that it was open season,” he said.
The Swedish people stood up for their own country and they stood up to defend the international system that we all rely on, said Secretary Blinken. “And I think what this tells us even more profoundly is the reaffirmation of Sweden’s democratic character: change driven by its people.”
“There’s also no clearer example than today of the strategic debacle that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has become for Russia. We see a Russia that is now weaker militarily, economically, diplomatically,” he said.
Conversely, NATO is now stronger and larger than it’s ever been. “Everything Putin sought to prevent, he’s actually precipitated by his actions, by his aggression; and there’s no clearer example of that than Sweden becoming a member of this Alliance,” said Secretary Blinken.
“It’s taken … nearly two years of tireless diplomacy … to achieve ratification by every NATO member,” said Secretary Blinken. “Some doubted that we’d get here. We never did.”
“Sweden has long been an active partner with NATO Allies,” he said. “And fundamentally, the reason this is such a strong, powerful fit is because Sweden embodies and promotes the core values that are at the heart of NATO: democracy, liberty, the rule of law.”
“If you go back to 1949,” said Secretary Blinken, “at the signing of the NATO Treaty, President Truman said this …: ‘In taking steps to prevent aggression against our own peoples, we have no purpose of aggression against other peoples. We hope to create a shield against aggression and the fear of aggression, a bulwark which will permit us to get on with the real business of government and society – the business of achieving a fuller and happier life for all of our citizens.’”
