NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson preside over the flag-raising ceremony in Brussels.
Sweden's flag was raised at NATO headquarters in Brussels, marking the country's entry into the military alliance two years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg watched as two soldiers raised the blue banner adorned with a yellow cross among the official circle of national flags at the transatlantic group's offices in the capital on Monday. Belgian.
Before the flag-raising ceremony held in the rain, Kristersson said expectations were “high.”
“We have chosen you and you have chosen us. All for one and one for all,” the prime minister said, adding that his country was a “proud” member and promised that it would uphold the values enshrined in NATO's founding Washington Treaty.
“The security situation in our region has not been this serious since World War II, and Russia will remain a threat to Euro-Atlantic security for the foreseeable future,” Kristersson said.
For his part, Stoltenberg said that the fact that Sweden has become the 32nd member of the alliance shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin “failed” in his war strategy against Ukraine to weaken it.
“When President Putin launched his full-scale invasion two years ago, he wanted less NATO and more control over his neighbors. He wanted to destroy Ukraine as a sovereign state, but he failed,” Stoltenberg said, adding that Ukraine is “closer to NATO than ever before.”
The ceremony came as 20,000 troops from 13 countries began NATO exercises in the high north of Sweden, as well as its neighbors Finland and Norway.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 prompted Sweden and Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) border with Russia, to end years of military non-alignment and apply to join the US-led alliance. .
While Finland joined in April 2023, Sweden's accession to NATO took nearly two years as Turkey and Hungary delayed the process that requires unanimous support from all members.
Turkey's parliament gave its formal consent in January and Hungary's last week.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday called the accession a “historic moment for Sweden, for our alliance and for the transatlantic relationship.”
“Good things come to those who wait,” Blinken said as he received Sweden's accession documents in Washington, DC.
NATO members have provided military and financial support to Ukraine in its fight against Russian forces, but momentum is slowing as U.S. political will fractures and Europe struggles to meet Ukraine's ammunition needs. .
Sweden brings well-trained and equipped armed forces to the table. It also adds state-of-the-art submarines and a sizeable fleet of domestically produced Gripen fighter jets to NATO forces and would be a crucial link between the Atlantic and the Baltic.
