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By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com — Sweden’s Prime Minister confirmed that the nation will formally apply to affix the North Atlantic Treaty Group, formally ending a coverage of non-alignment stretching again over 70 years.
Sweden has stayed out of direct battle for over 200 years for the reason that Napoleonic Wars, staying studiously impartial, together with Finland, through the Chilly Warfare.
“Non-alignment has served us nicely, however our conclusion is that it’ll not serve us as nicely sooner or later,” Magdalena Andersson stated late on Sunday, as she introduced that her celebration the Social Democrats – who’ve dominated Swedish politics for the final century – had dropped their opposition to becoming a member of NATO.
Nevertheless, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has modified the safety calculus for northern Europe, reviving fears that it’ll search to reclaim different former territories belonging to its empire, together with the Baltic States and Finland.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto had on Sunday confirmed that his nation, too, will apply to affix the alliance.
The information is a setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who stated final week in a speech marking victory in World Warfare 2 that he had ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February to pre-empt the enlargement of NATO. The invasion has gone awry, with an preliminary Russian assault being defeated earlier than the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and subsequent assaults across the nation’s second metropolis, Kharkiv, additionally being repulsed. Russian forces are nonetheless holding on to in depth positive factors in southern Ukraine, nevertheless.
The Nordic international locations’ bids for NATO membership are prone to be accepted with out a lot resistance, given the top quality of their armed forces and the international locations’ democratic credentials.
The event “doesn’t pose a risk” to Russia however might “set off a response,” Putin was quoted as saying at a summit of former Soviet allies on Monday.
“What sort (of response) will probably be, we’ll determine relying on threats which can be created in opposition to us,” Putin stated.
The event comes at a time when Sweden, Finland, and most different European Union member states are urgent to impose an embargo on Russian oil and refined merchandise by the tip of the yr. A proposal from the EU Fee wants unanimity among the many 27 member states to come back into drive however is presently being resisted by Hungary and, to a lesser extent, different central and japanese European members whose vitality methods nonetheless rely closely on provides from the previous Soviet Union.
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