Swedish Officials To Visit Washington Ahead of NATO Accession

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom are set to travel to Washington, D.C. ahead of their nation's accession into the NATO military alliance.

The trip comes despite warnings from Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Nordic nation joining the military alliance. Sweden will soon become NATO's 32nd member after it deposits the formal documentation. The development also marks the end of the 200 years where Stockholm has avoided military alliances and adopted a neutral stance in times of war.

Sweden PM to Visit Washington

Swedish Prime Minister UIf Kristersson and Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom are set to visit Washington ahead of the Nordic nation's NATO accession.
(Photo : Janos Kummer/Getty Images)

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Swedish prime minister declined to provide any further information beyond the brief government release. Putin's invasion of Ukraine resulted in what he had been trying to avoid, an expansion of the NATO military alliance. Western leaders argued that it comes after years of Moscow warning Finland and Sweden they should not join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

As a member of the military alliance, Sweden, having cutting-edge submarines and Gripen fighter jets, will be a crucial link between the Atlantic and the Baltic states during times of crisis, as per Fox News.

The Nordic nation will benefit from the alliance's common defense guarantee, under which an attack on one of its members is regarded as an attack on all of them. Russia has argued that it would adopt unspecified military-technical and other countermeasures in response to Sweden's accession into NATO.

The country's application was made alongside its neighbor, Finland, in May 2022, but faced various delays by Hungary and Turkey. While the latter gave its approval in January this year, Hungary's president only followed earlier this week. This cleared the final obstacle to Sweden's NATO membership.

Hungary is now expected to hand over the last documents to the U.S. administration on Thursday. On the other hand, Sweden has to wait until that transfer of documents occurs before it can complete the formalities of NATO membership.

Accession Into NATO

During Kristersson's visit to Washington, he is expected to attend the annual State of the Union address by United States President Joe Biden. The latter has been struggling to persuade the rival Republican Party to approve new aid for Ukraine, according to Yahoo News.

It is expected that Sweden's blue and golden-yellow flag will be hoisted on Monday at the Brussels headquarters of the NATO military alliance. Since the Napoleonic conflicts of the early 19th century, Sweden has not been involved in a war, including World War II.

The Nordic country's NATO accession was delayed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he demanded action after protesters desecrated Islam's holy book, the Koran. On the other hand, the U.S. offered the idea of F-16 warplanes to Turkey to get the nation to approve the membership application.

Sweden's membership in the military alliance is considered by many to be a major blow to Moscow as it turns the Baltic Sea into a NATO Lake. This would make it much easier for the alliance to keep track of Russia's naval movements in the region, said Politico.