Sweden on Thursday became the 32nd member of NATO with the handover of documents at a ceremony in Washington, a historic move that Secretary of State Antony Blinken said marked a “strategic debacle” by Russia. “Good things come to those who wait,” Blinken said as he accepted the accession documents from Sweden’s prime minister, following ratification by the 31 other alliance members. “I think if you step back and think of where we were three years ago, none of this was foreordained,” Blinken said of Sweden joining NATO. Sweden officially joined NATO on Thursday after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spurred it to rethink its defence policy and abandon its long-held position of neutrality. “We will strive for unity, solidarity and burden-sharing, and will fully adhere to the Washington Treaty values: freedom, democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law.

Source: Nigerian Tribune March 07, 2024 18:09 UTC