Context

• Sweden, which remained non-aligned for almost 200 years, has become the 32nd member country of NATO.

 Key Points

• Sweden will also now get security guarantee under Article 5.
• Sweden's accession to NATO was announced after a special meeting of the Swedish government.
• After Sweden becomes a member of NATO, its flag will now be flown outside the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
• Russia's neighbours Sweden and Finland were trying to become NATO members since the beginning of the Ukraine war. Finland became a member of NATO last year and now Sweden has also entered NATO. This means that except Russia, all the countries surrounded by the Baltic Sea have now become part of NATO.
• As a result, Russia has issued a statement on Sweden joining NATO saying that if NATO troops are deployed in Sweden, Russia will also take steps against it.

Countries that recently joined NATO

• North Macedonia joined the alliance in 2020 as the 30th member.
• Finland joined the alliance in 2023 as the 31st member.
• Sweden joined the alliance on 7 March 2024 as the 32nd member.

Important Facts For Exams

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

• Formation: 1949
• Current members: There were 12 countries including the US, Britain, Canada and France.
• Current member count:32
• Current members: US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Portugal, Norway, North Macedonia, Netherlands, Montenegro, Luxembourg, Iceland, With Greece, Denmark, Croatia, Belgium, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia now Finland and Sweden.
• Objective: To stop the expansion of the Soviet Union.
• Security Principle: An attack on any NATO member would be considered an attack on all member states.
• Headquarters: Brussels
• Official languages: English and French
• Secretary General: Jens Stoltenberg
• Chairman of the Military Committee: Giampaolo Di Paola