Sweden’s flag raised at Nato headquarters as it becomes 32nd alliance member

Sweden’s national flag has been raised at Nato headquarters, cementing the Nordic country's place as the 32nd member of the alliance.

The ceremony came two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine persuaded Sweden’s reluctant public to seek safety under na to’ s security umbrella.

Under a steady rain, Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson and Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg looked on as two soldiers raised the blue banner emblazoned with a yellow cross among the official circle of national flags at the headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

“We are humble, but we are also proud. We know the expectations for Sweden are high, but we also have high expectations for ourselves,” Mr Kristersson told reporters minutes before the ceremony. “We will share burdens, responsibilities and risks with our allies.”

Sweden set aside decades of post-war neutrality when it formally joined Nato last Thursday.

Its neighbour Finland joined last year in another historic move ending years of military non-alignment. President Vladimir Putin’s decision to order Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 triggered an about-face in public opinion in both countries, and within three months they had applied to join the world’s biggest security organisation.

Mr Putin claimed to have launched the war, at least in part, over Nato's eastward expansion but it has swollen the alliance’s ranks.

Nato leaders have promised that Ukraine will join one day, although almost certainly not while the conflict continues.

“When President Putin launched-his-full-scalein vasion two years ago, he wanted less Nato, and more control over his neighbours. He wanted to destroy Ukraine as a sovereign state, but he failed,” Mr Stoltenberg said.

“Nato is now bigger and stronger. Ukraine is closer to Nato than ever before and we stand by their side.”

The flag-raising ceremony came as 20,000 troops from 13 countries began Nato drills in northern Sweden as well as Finland and Norway, part of wider exercises called Steadfast Defender 24, Nato's largest in decades, with up to 90,000 troops taking part.