What Sweden's membership means for NATO and Russia | DW News

and we begin in Brussels, where a flag-raising ceremony is taking place to commemorate Sweden's entry into NATO. The event takes place at the alliance's headquarters after Sweden officially became its 32nd member in Washington, two years after the Nordic country applied to join the military. Alliance after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in a moment we will take a look at

what

Sweden brings to NATO, but first let's listen to the Swedish Prime Minister speaking in Brussels in the last hour: the security situation in our region has not been so serious. Given that the Second World War and Russia will remain a threat to Euro-Atlantic security for the foreseeable future, it was in this sense that Sweden requested to join the NATO Defense Alliance to gain security but also to provide security, given the location of Sweden, its military power and its experience in dealing.

With Russian aggression, its entry into NATO is widely seen as a blow to the Kremlin. We have been analyzing

what

the country adds to the Transatlantic Alliance as it seeks to strengthen its defenses against a possible Russian attack. Sweden becomes the second Nordic country. nation in the last year to join NATO and its

membership

brings with it a number of advantages for the alliance, first of all, by following Finland in abandoning neutrality. Sweden is sending an important message to those nations still undecided about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It's time to choose. Sweden is leaving behind 200 years of neutrality and non-alignment.

It's a big step that we need to take seriously, but it's also a very natural step that we're taking. Furthermore, the Kremlin can no longer claim that Finland's assessment was an isolated incident. NATO seeks to develop defense plans for eastern members aimed at deterring Russia's advance. Sweden brings considerable experience in understanding how to counter that threat. Sweden's military capabilities also make it a powerful new member. The nation has state-of-the-art aircraft and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as state-of-the-art tanks and submarines and a considerable fleet of ships, providing a 500-year-old Navy and a Navy that is among the largest in the world.

Baltic Sea, where we must remember that NATO does not have many large navies. Sweden's geographical position also makes it useful in the first place. as land transit routes to reinforce fellow Norway and Finland and secondly by allowing NATO to take control of the Baltic Sea in any conflict with Russia via Sweden's huge coastline, in return Sweden now has guarantees security of NATO member states if attacked by Russia or anyone else in the future the message from Russia's opponents is clear that both NATO and Sweden are much stronger as a result of this agreement. The feeling at NATO headquarters today is that there are people popping the champagne after what has been a fairly difficult process over the last two years, not quite yet because the flag-raising is underway , but I'm sure there will be many uncorked bottles later, like you.

Let's say this, two very long years and especially even this last year, when Finland was admitted to the alliance after having obtained all the approvals of all the other allies a year ago, which left Sweden in a position where it felt very vulnerable, almost as if he had a goal. It had Finland, a new member, on one side and Norway on the other, but Sweden was not there, so there is a huge sense of relief here around NATO headquarters. Both Swedish Prime Minister Ol Christon and Secretary General Yen Stoltenberg were clearly in favor. happy, even laughing a little and that is not seen very often here in NATO, so everyone is really in a good mood because finally this process has finally come to an end with the raising of the Swedish flag.

Here now we heard a moment ago from the Swedish Prime Minister and he said that the Russian threat to Euro-Atlantic security tipped the balance for Sweden to join NATO and that breaks with a long tradition of neutrality. Why does Sweden think joining NATO is a safer bet than remaining neutral? The points that you made this morning, and we also know this from the change in NATO and their military posture, is that they do not believe that this threat from Russia is going away anytime soon, not only will the war in Ukraine not end quickly, but Russia Tal maybe turn to other neighbors and that is, of course, if you are in the Baltic States or in the Nordic area, you feel that now you could be the next Swedish Defense Minister who we have spoken to many times on our website. say without Article 5 without being a member of NATO we can hope we can wish we can even assume that other countries would come to defend us but we cannot know, we will only know once we have Article Five and that is what

membership

in NATO gives to Sweden now.

Sweden and Finland, on the other hand, come to the table in terms of dealing with a possible Russian military threat. Well, both countries are very much security providers and Prime Minister Christon made that point again this morning, he, they're not necessarily. is going to be the target of a Russian attack which would probably be the Baltic states or Poland, which, you know, are nearby, are normally the target of provocative comments from Russia, but he remembers that these countries planned perhaps in perpetuity. to defend themselves and that's why they built their armies, they have huge reserves, they have extremely well-trained troops, they have high levels of recruitment, Finland kept conscription, so they are bringing very, very strong armies into the alliance and, frankly, as soon as they decided they wanted to join many other countries they said great, we are going to learn from Finland and Sweden how to be resilient how to be self-sufficient how to maintain extraordinarily good discipline in our ranks and that is why everyone is looking forward to the day when the northern flank is sealed and we have Finland and Sweden firmly under the NATO umbrella. bws Brussels correspondent Terry Schultz reports from NATO headquarters.

Thank you very much Terry. One of the most pressing issues facing NATO members is, of course, the war in Ukraine and the repeated call for more weapons for Germany. That debate now centers on a British proposal to exchange cruise missiles, which would see Germany deliver its Taist missiles to Britain, who would in turn send Ukraine more of its own Storm Shadow missiles. Minister Analina Bok has said she is open to the idea, but the Chancellor has so far blocked any decision to send long-range weapons because she worries they could be used to attack targets in Russia and also that German soldiers would have to participate. .

Saying goodbye to them, DW's political editor-in-chief explained to us why we are hearing conflicting messages from the German government about tourist missiles, because there are very different opinions on whether this cruise missile should be supplied. It is an open secret, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Analina Barok, described it. Sending them to Britain, who could then send their missiles to Ukraine would be an option. She was in favor of sending them immediately and the German Chancellor is completely against Germany supplying such weapons, particularly this tower system that is considered pretty. is very much the best of its kind in the world and because he is concerned, firstly, that German soldiers may be involved in targeting this and, secondly, that these missiles have been arranged so that if they were launched from a particular part of Ukraine, could hit Moscow, so the general concern in the Chancellery is that Germany could be seen as a party to this conflict, something that German Chancellor Schultz wants to avoid at all costs.