STOCKHOLM (AP) — On the brink of joining NATO, Sweden has signed a defense cooperation agreement with Washington that will allow the United States access to all of the military bases across the Scandinavian country, saying the deal would bolster regional security.
Swedish Defense Minister Pål Johnson said the agreement, signed Tuesday in Washington, “will create greater situations for Sweden to get U. S. help 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 maximum from the army’s point of view that they can store defense equipment, for example. “
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The agreement was signed at the Pentagon by Johnson and U. S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who said that by adding the functions of the Swedish armed forces to NATO, “we will be even stronger. “
The agreement “sends a signal that we remain committed to addressing challenging security situations together,” Austin said.
Gotland, a strategically Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, lies just over three hundred kilometers (186 miles) from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad in the Baltic Sea.
The U. S. reached a deal with NATO member Sweden’s western neighbor, Norway, in 2021 and is ultimately negotiating such a deal with NATO members Finland and Denmark, two other Nordic countries.
Sweden and neighboring Finland have to abandon their long-standing policy of non-alignment and apply to the NATO club after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. Finland joined NATO in April.
New members will have to be approved by all existing members of the alliance. Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO countries that have not officially endorsed Sweden’s candidacy.
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 considers to be security threats.
In comments via the official Anadolu Agency on Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan linked the ratification of the Swedish NATO club to the U. S. Congress’ approval of Turkey’s request to buy 40 F-16 fighter jets and kits to modernize its existing fleet.
The request was supported by the White House but rejected by Congress.
“I have done my duty, but I also expect anything from you,” Erdogan told a group of reporters on his return from Qatar, where he attended the 44th summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council. “You (the United States) deserve to pass the (F-16) factor in your Congress. “
Last week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the Turkish president that “the time has come” to allow Sweden to become a member of the military alliance.
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