Sweden to officially become NATO member today – White House

Sweden will officially join the North Atlantic Alliance and become its 32nd member today, according to a statement on the website of the White House.

Washington said Sweden is a strong democracy with a highly capable military that shares American values and vision for the world, and emphasized that Sweden's presence in NATO will make the United States and other allies even safer.

"NATO is the most powerful defensive alliance in the history of the world, and it is as critical today to ensuring the security of our citizens as it was 75 years ago when our Alliance was founded out of the wreckage of World War II," the White House concluded.

Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership immediately after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

The intention of the Scandinavian countries received the accelerated approval of all the members of the Alliance, with the exception of Turkey and Hungary.

The day before, Hungary, which was the last country to hold back the accession, ratified Sweden's accession to NATO. Prior to that, in January, Turkey completed the ratification of Sweden's accession.