Putin's war made Sweden come out of the close

 

Lena Mellin  

 

Then Sweden stepped out of the closet Our true selves were revealed after the attack on Ukraine  

 

Published: Less than 2 hours ago 

  

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's. 

  

COLUMNISTS  

 

Russia's large-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, which began a year ago on Friday, caused Sweden to finally come out of the closet.  

 

Just like some parents of children who do not want to tell about their sexual orientation, the outside world had already understood. A long time ago even.  

 

Sweden has always stuck to the West. Not on the Soviet Union. Not in Russia. Hardly even in between.  

 

We have, just as our loved ones have already calculated, always kept to the West. But we didn't tell anyone about it because apparently we thought it was a bit awkward. Outwardly, we were neutral at first. Then non-aligned. 

 

But after the new Russian invasion of Ukraine, we came out of the closet. Showed our true selves after several hundred years.  

 

After a debate in the Riksdag, the government took the decision on 16 May last year to apply for membership in NATO. Two days later, the application was submitted.  

 

On July 5, all NATO countries sign Sweden's, and our co-applicant Finland's, accession protocol. Since then, it has been approved by parliaments in 28 of NATO's 30 member states.  

 

Hungary and Turkey remain. It thus seemed to go lightning fast to step out of the closet and establish himself in the new circle of friends. The freedom of alliance that had almost been part of the people's soul disappeared before anyone knew it.  

 

Before the invasion, four out of eight parties were in favor of NATO membership. After that it was six out of eight. S and SD had changed their minds. Two parties continued to struggle, V and MP.  

 

But did it happen so quickly? Actually. Well.  

Magdalena Andersson (S) and Ulf Kristersson (M) visit the international military exercise Cold Response 2022 outside Narvik in northern Norway, March 2022. Cold Response is a Norwegian-led winter exercise in which NATO and partner countries participate. Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT  

 

Already in 1992, a couple of years after the end of the Cold War, the security policy motto was changed from that we should be non-aligned "aiming at neutrality in war" to "we should be able to be neutral in the event of war". Subtly? Perhaps. But not for the Foreign Ministry geeks.  

 

Two years later, Sweden joined NATO's sister organization Partnership for Peace, PFF, the same year it was formed. Since then, cooperation with the Western defense alliance has been built on at a slow pace. Interoperability, host country agreement, ambassador to NATO, troop under NATO flag. This is a mini version of the incredibly long list of how Sweden approached NATO step by step. 

 

With a couple of exceptions, it hasn't been very fast at all. It took thirty years. The exceptions were our own ingrained notion of being neutral. And the turnaround of the Social Democrats. 

 

In November 2021, then Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist (S) said that he would never participate in applying for membership in NATO. On April 11 at 8:15 a.m., he changed in a bug-proof room without windows at the Ministry of Defence.  

 

The Russian attack on Ukraine forced Sweden out of the closet where we hid for a long time.