Putin really isn’t getting his own way after Sweden votes to join NATO

Swedish politicians have overwhelmingly voted in favour of the country joining Nato, signing off on its membership along with the required legislation.

The 349-seat parliament authorised Sweden’s accession to Nato on a vote of 269-37, with 43 politicians absent.

It was the last required domestic hurdle to the country becoming part of the 30-member western military alliance.

Six of the eight parties represented in parliament were in favour of Nato membership, and the vote that followed a nearly seven-hour debate was seen as a formality.

Sweden’s parliament approved its decision to join NATO by a landslide (Picture: AP)

Sweden and Finland made a joint application to join Nato following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Picture: AP)

‘Membership in Nato is the best way to safeguard Sweden’s security,’ said foreign minister Tobias Billstrom during the deliberations.

He called it ‘a historical event’ and “one of the most important security policy decisions ever for our country”.

Morgan Johansson of the Social Democrats- Sweden’s largest party, which once opposed Nato membership- said that joining the alliance was ‘about seeking in every situation the solutions that provide maximum security for the people of Sweden.’ 

Both Sweden and neighbouring Finland applied to join Nato in May 2022, abandoning decades of non-alignment in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Almost overnight, support for Nato membership leapt from an underwhelming one-third of Finns to almost 80%.

Two Nato countries, Turkey and Hungary, have yet to ratify the Nordic nations’ joint application, which requires unanimous approval from existing members.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week that his government would move forward with ratifying Finland, paving the way for the country to join the alliance before Sweden.

Sweden’s Nato membership must still be approved by Turkey, who has threatened to block their application (Picture: Shutterstock)

But Mr Erdogan said Sweden still must resolve the Turkish concerns that had delayed action on the joint application.

The Turkish government previously accused both Sweden and Finland of being too soft on groups that it deems to be terror organisations, but expressed more reservations about Sweden.

During a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto last week Erdogan heaped scorn on the Swedish government, claiming they had embraced Kurdish militants, whom he labelled as ’terrorists’. 

He also complained that Kurdish militant demonstrations had been allowed on the streets of Stockholm.

However, Mr Niinisto told reporters as he stood alongside the Turkish leader that the process of joining the alliance would ‘not be complete without Sweden,’ and said he hoped to see both countries in Nato in time for the July’s summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.

The move is the latest thorn in Putin’s side after he was issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court last week, which seeks to prosecute the Russian president over the unlawful removal of children from Ukraine to Russia.

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‘Membership in Nato is the best way to safeguard Sweden’s security,’ said the country’s foreign minister during the deliberations.