Sweden officially becomes 32nd NATO member today - White House

"Sweden is formally joining the NATO Alliance on March 7, 2024, becoming the 32nd Ally," the statement said.

At the same time, the White House noted that Sweden is a strong democracy with highly effective armed forces that share the values and vision of the alliance.

"Having Sweden as a NATO Ally will make the United States and our Allies even safer," the statement said.

At the same time, the Swedish agency The Local reported that Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto had flown to the United States to hand over ratification documents from his country to Sweden.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Foreign Minister Tobias Billström are also in Washington, having arrived there the day before.

According to the schedule published by the US State Department, Blinken's meeting with Kristersson is scheduled for 18:15 Kyiv time. Presumably, he will then present Sweden's accession documents to NATO, and the country will officially join the military alliance.

At the same time, the ceremony of raising the Swedish flag at NATO headquarters in Brussels is already scheduled for Monday, March 11.

Sweden's accession to NATO

In 2022, after the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into the territory of Ukraine, Sweden applied for NATO membership. Turkey and Hungary opposed this decision. Later, after a series of agreements, Ankara finally gave its consent.

For a long time, Hungary remained the last country that had not ratified Sweden's application, which was the last obstacle for Stockholm.

On February 26, the Hungarian parliament finally ratified Sweden's application for NATO membership, and on March 5, newly elected President Tamás Szuék signed the document.