Sweden formally joins NATO military alliance, ending centuries of neutrality

• Sweden has officially joined the NATO military alliance.
• Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to hand over the final documents.
• The country first bid to join the alliance in May 2022.
• But resistance from NATO member Hungary delayed the process.

Sweden officially joined NATO as its 32nd member on Thursday, almost two years after first applying to the military alliance.

Earlier on Thursday, the Swedish government said in a statement it was holding an extraordinary meeting to vote on joining NATO after all current members had approved its accession to the military alliance.

The news was then confirmed later Thursday with a statement from NATO, with Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg saying the country was "taking its rightful place at our table."

"Sweden's accession makes NATO stronger, Sweden safer, and the whole Alliance more secure. I look forward to raising their flag at NATO HQ on Monday," he added.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to hand over the final documents. The country first applied to join NATO in May 2022, not long after Russia's war on Ukraine began. This marked a significant change in Sweden's previous policy of military nonalignment which stretches back to the Napoleonic wars.

Finland became an official member of NATO last April, also prompted by Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine. Authorities in both Helsinki and Stockholm decided that in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, their nations were no longer safe on their own and applied to join the alliance a few months later. 

NATO members Hungary and Turkey delayed the process of Sweden's accession, with both