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Sweden Formally Joins NATO, Becomes 32nd Member

"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.

By Emmanuel Egobiambu
Updated March 7, 2024
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken receives the NATO ratification documents from Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson during a ceremony at the US State Department, as Sweden formally joins the North Atlantic alliance, in Washington, DC, on March 7, 2024. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

 

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.

READ ALSO: Turkey Ratifies Sweden’s NATO Membership After Protracted Delay

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Seamstress Tove Lycke is seen at work with new NATO flags, at the flag manufacturer Flagghuset in Akersberga, outside Stockholm, Sweden, on March 7, 2024. (Photo by Anders WIKLUND / TT NEWS AGENCY / AFP) / SWEDEN OUT

 

“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.

There is “no clearer example than today of the strategic debacle that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has become for Russia,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

AFP

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