NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the alliance has no plans to expand the number of member states that have nuclear weapons.
Mr. Stoltenberg added that the bloc does not intend to station new combat units in Sweden. At a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, he said:
“We have no plans to expand the number of NATO countries with nuclear weapons. We are also constantly assessing our force capabilities and we have no plans for new battle groups in Sweden at this time.”
According to the alliance Secretary General, the membership of Sweden and Finland in NATO would have a positive impact on the entire alliance, especially the Nordic and Baltic countries. During the press conference, Jens Stoltenberg added that the alliance currently sees no military threat from Russia. He also said that he favoured the decision of some countries to supply Ukraine with long-range systems.On 7 March, Sweden officially became NATO’s 32nd member, and the protocol on the country’s accession to the bloc entered into force.
Sweden applied for NATO membership in May 2022 together with Finland, which became the 31st member of NATO in April 2023. Sweden’s accession was delayed due to disagreements with Turkey and Hungary. In particular, Ankara was dissatisfied with Sweden’s loyal attitude to members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), with which the Turkish military is engaged in armed confrontation.
As a result, Turkey approved Sweden’s accession to NATO in January 2024. The Hungarian parliament ratified the agreement on 26 February. On 5 March, Hungarian President Tamás Szujok approved the ratification of Sweden’s NATO bid. On 11 March, a Swedish flag-raising ceremony takes place at the alliance’s headquarters in Belgium.
