Sweden’s flag is raised at NATO headquarters to cement its place as the 32nd member of the alliance

By LORNE COOK
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — Sweden’s national flag has been raised at NATO headquarters to cement the Nordic country’s place as the 32nd member. The ceremony on Monday came more than two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine which persuaded Sweden’s reluctant public to seek safety under the alliance’s security umbrella. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Crown Princess Victoria and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg looked on Monday as two soldiers raised the blue banner emblazoned with a yellow cross among the official circle of national flags at the headquarters in Brussels. Sweden set aside decades of post-World War II neutrality when it formally joined NATO on March 7. Finland joined last year in another historic move ending years of military nonalignment.