Shortly before joining NATO, Sweden signed a defense cooperation agreement with Washington that will give the United States access to all military bases in the Scandinavian country, saying the agreement would strengthen regional security
December 6, 2023, 5:11 am ET
• 3 min reading
STOCKHOLM – Sweden is poised to join NATO and has signed a defense cooperation agreement with Washington that will give the United States access to all military bases across the Scandinavian country. The agreement would strengthen security in the region.
Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson said the agreement signed in Washington on Tuesday would “create better conditions for Sweden to receive support from the United States in the event of a war or crisis.”
Jonson told Swedish broadcaster SVT that this does not mean “all 17 sites will be used”, but “where it is most important from a military point of view, that they can store defense equipment, for example”.
The agreement was signed at the Pentagon by Jonson and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who said that by incorporating the Swedish Armed Forces’ capabilities into NATO, we would “become even stronger.”
The agreement “sends a strong signal that we remain committed to addressing security challenges together,” Austin said.
Sweden’s strategically important Baltic Sea island of Gotland is just over 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.
The United States reached a similar agreement with Sweden’s western neighbor, NATO member Norway, in 2021 and is currently negotiating such an agreement with NATO members Finland and Denmark, two other Nordic countries.
Sweden and its neighbor Finland decided to abandon their longstanding non-alignment policy and apply for NATO membership after Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Finland joined NATO in April.
New members must be approved by all existing members of the alliance. Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO countries that have not officially approved Sweden’s application to join.
Turkey has delayed ratification for more than a year, accusing Sweden of not taking Turkey’s security concerns seriously enough, including its fight against Kurdish militants and other groups that Ankara sees as a security threat.
In comments published by state-run Anadolu Agency on Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan linked Sweden’s ratification of NATO membership to the US Congress’s approval of Turkey’s request to purchase 40 F-16 fighter jets and Kits to modernize your existing fleet.
The proposal was supported by the White House but faced opposition in Congress.
“I have done my duty, but I also expect something from you,” Erdogan told a group of journalists on his way back from Qatar, where he attended the 44th Gulf Cooperation Council summit. “You (the United States) should pass the (F-16) issue in your Congress at the same time.”
Last week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he had told the Turkish president that “the time has come” for Sweden to become a member of the military alliance.