Czech ambassador: joining NATO "huge relief" for Sweden

Being allowed to join NATO was a huge relief for Sweden, the Czech ambassador to Stockholm, Anita Grmelová, told the Czech News Agency in an interview. When Finland joined NATO, Sweden lost its largest bilateral partner to some extent, she said, with cooperation not working as well as it did before due to one of the countries being a NATO member while the other was not.

Sweden officially became a member of the alliance on Thursday, with Hungary being the last NATO member to ratify its membership. Both Sweden and Finland, which had been neutral countries during the Cold War, expressed interest in joining NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine.