Sweden’s NATO Accession: What it Means for Russia-Ukraine War

On 7^th March 2024, Sweden became the 32^nd member to join NATO. Due to full-blown war between Russia and Ukraine, NATO is becoming key for the European countries to protect their territorial sovereignty. With Sweden’s accession, all Nordic countries became part of the alliance that was formed during the Cold War era. One of the key factors of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was Kyiv’s attempt to join the anti-Russia military alliance, NATO. However, Russia’s belligerent move against Ukraine has provided detrimental results. Since Moscow’s invasion of Kyiv, nearly half a dozen countries in the region have increasingly expressed their willingness to join NATO.

After Finland joined NATO in 2023, Sweden followed and became an official member of NATO. After months of uncertainty caused by the hesitations of Turkey and Hungary, Sweden officially became a member of NATO. Turkey’s objections to Sweden’s membership were linked to concerns over the country’s policy towards the Kurdish militant organisations. A deal involving the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey appears to have played a role in unlocking Turkey’s changed stance on Sweden. Sweden, considering the deteriorating security environment since 2014, brought back its ‘Total Defence‘ model in its defence policy.

Sweden ends its Long-Standing Contemplation of Neutrality

All the views and opinions expressed are those of the author. Image Credit – CNN.

About the Author

Sanchaly Bhattacharya is a research associate at The Geostrata and a teaching assistant at the Jindal School of International Affairs (JSIA). She is a contributing writer for various think tanks and news media outlets such as Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA), Defence and Security Alert Magazine and Modern Diplomacy. She is currently pursuing Master of Arts (MA) in Diplomacy, Law & Business from O. P. Jindal Global University (JGU) and Master of Public Administration (MPA) in Governance & Public Policy from Netaji Subhash Open University, Kolkata. She holds a Bachelors degree in Geography & Economics from West Bengal State University.