STOCKHOLM, May 4 (Reuters) – Sweden has received assurances from the United States that it will receive support during a period in which 30 Allies are processing a potential application to join NATO, Foreign Minister Ann Linde said in Washington on Wednesday.
Sweden and neighboring Finland remained outside NATO during the Cold War, but Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its invasion of Ukraine forced countries to rethink their security policies, making NATO membership increasingly likely.
Both sides are concerned that they will be vulnerable during the application process, which could take up to a year to be approved by all NATO members.
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“Of course, I will not go into details, but I am very sure that we now have an American assurance,” Linde told Swedish television in Washington after meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
“However, no specific security guarantees, the ones you can only get if you are a full member of NATO,” she added.
Linde declined to say what assurances she had received from Blinken.
“They would mean that Russia can be clear that if it directs any negative action against Sweden that threatens, it will not be something that the United States would simply allow to happen … without a response,” she said.
Sweden’s defense minister said last month that an application could provoke a number of responses from Russia, including cyber attacks and hybrid measures – such as propaganda campaigns – to undermine Sweden’s security.
Moscow has warned that it could deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in the European exclave of Kaliningrad if Sweden and Finland become members of NATO. Read more
Linde, who will now travel to Canada to discuss security issues with her government, said the United States strongly supports Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO membership, which will increase stability in the Baltic and Arctic regions.
Both Sweden and Finland are expected to decide whether to apply for NATO membership this month. Read more
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Report by Simon Johnson Edited by Bill Bercrot
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