Sweden claims to have received US security guarantees if it submits a NATO application
Sweden has received assurances from the United States that it will receive support during the period a potential application to join NATO is processed by the 30 nations in the alliance, said Foreign Minister Ann Linde in Washington on Wednesday. Sweden and neighboring Finland stayed out of NATO during the Cold War, but Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its invasion of Ukraine have prompted countries to reconsider their security policies, with NATO membership increasingly likely.
Both countries are concerned that they would be vulnerable during an application process, which could take up to a year to be approved by all NATO members. “Of course I will not go into any details, but I feel very confident that now we have an American declaration,” Linde told Swedish TV from Washington after meeting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“But not concrete security guarantees, the ones you can only get if you are a full member of NATO,” she added. Linde declined to say what assurances she received from Blinken.
“They would think that Russia can be clear that if they direct any form of negative activity towards Sweden, which they have threatened, then it would not be something that the United States would just allow to happen … without an answer,” she said. Sweden’s defense minister said last month that an application could trigger a number of reactions from Russia, including cyber attacks and hybrid measures – such as propaganda campaigns – to undermine Sweden’s security.
Moscow has warned that it could deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in the Kaliningrad European eclave if Sweden and Finland become NATO members. Linde, who will now travel to Canada to discuss security issues with his government, said that the United States strongly supports Swedish and Finnish membership of NATO, which would increase stability in the Baltic and Arctic areas.
Both Sweden and Finland are expected to make a decision on whether to apply to join NATO this month.
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