Sweden on Monday officially announced it will apply for NATO membership as a deterrent against Russian aggression, entering a "new era" as it reverses two centuries of military non-alignment.
"The government has decided to inform NATO that Sweden wants to become a member of the alliance," Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson told reporters a day after neighbouring Finland made a similar announcement.
"We are leaving one era and beginning another," Andersson said of the dramatic turnaround of her country`s position less than three months after Russia`s invasion of Ukraine.
Sweden`s NATO ambassador would "shortly" inform NATO, she said.
Sweden and Finland have both expressed a desire to act in lockstep on NATO membership. They are expected to submit their applications jointly this week.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday warned that NATO`s expansion may trigger a response from Moscow.
The expansion poses "no direct threat for us... but the expansion of military infrastructure to these territories will certainly provoke our response," Putin said during a televised summit meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a Moscow-led military alliance.
Andersson acknowledged Sweden would be "vulnerable" in the interim period before its application is ratified.
"We can`t exclude that Sweden will be subjected for example to disinformation and attempts to scare and divide us", she said.
However, Stockholm has received security assurances from several key partners, including the United States, Britain, Germany, France and the Nordic countries, she added.
She expected "it shouldn`t take more than a year" for the alliance`s 30 members to unanimously ratify Sweden`s membership application.
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