Sweden’s arduous path to joining the NATO alliance came to a successful close Thursday, as the Swedish prime minister and foreign minister deposited the country’s “instrument of accession” at the State Department in Washington.
In a lighthearted ceremony, Secretary of State Antony Blinken posed for photos with a blue folder holding the document, and quipped “well, good things come to those who wait.”
“With receipt of this instrument of accession, let me be the very first to welcome Sweden as a party to the Washington Treaty and the 32nd member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” he continued.
Blinken remarked on Sweden’s longstanding military neutrality, and how the country was moved to end its tradition after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022. Sweden was called to defend democracy and recognized the existential threat Russia’s aggression presented to European nations, he said.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks during the NATO ratification ceremony with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the US State Department, as Sweden formally joins the North Atlantic alliance, in Washington, DC, on March 7, 2024.
Andrew Caballero-reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
“None of this was easy, none of this was obvious,” Blinken said, adding it had taken “nearly two years of tireless diplomacy” to add Sweden to the alliance.
“Sweden is now a NATO member,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on X earlier. “Thank you all Allies for welcoming us as the 32nd member. 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. Stronger together.”
Sweden’s membership was slowed by objections from Turkey and Hungary. The U.S. was able to eventually incentivize Turkey by approving the sale of fighter jets to the country, and Hungary signed off on Sweden’s addition this week.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman contributed to this story.