News - White House: Sweden officially joining NATO

Sweden is formally joining the NATO Alliance on Thursday, becoming the 32nd ally, the White House said in a statement. The statement adds that Sweden, as a NATO ally, will make the US and other NATO member countries "even safer." According to the US Department of State, a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is scheduled for 11:15am ET (5:15pm Stockholm time). It is likely that Kristersson will use this opportunity to submit Sweden's NATO accession documents to Blinken. This week, Hungary approved Sweden's bid to join NATO. This ended almost a year's delay in Sweden's entry compared to Finland's due to demands from Turkey and negotiations followed by Hungary.