U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, left, and Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson signed a defense cooperation agreement on December 5, 2023. CHAD MCNEELEY/OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
THE WATCH STAFF
A defense pact recently inked between Sweden and the United States will help deter Russian aggression in the Baltic and Arctic regions while contributing to Sweden’s national security and the interoperability of its armed forces, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
The U.S. will be allowed to station troops, conduct exercises, and store weapons, equipment and ammunition at 17 bases around Sweden. The defense cooperation agreement (DCA), signed on December 5, includes access to key pressure points in the High North, including the Berga naval base in the Stockholm archipelago, the Lulea air base and the Gotland regiment, which is stationed about 300 kilometers from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
The U.S. struck a similar deal with Norway in 2021 and is currently negotiating with Denmark and Finland.
With Sweden ready to join NATO, “we will get even stronger,” Austin said, according to the Nordic Times, an international newspaper. The deal “sends a strong signal that we remain committed to addressing security challenges together.”
Turkey and Hungary have stalled Sweden’s NATO bid, but the DCA is not contingent on Sweden gaining membership. The DCA also needs to be approved by the Swedish parliament.
“As important as this agreement is, it is also important that we become a full member of NATO and are covered by NATO’s common defense guarantees,” said Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson.
“Sweden is a strong, capable defense partner that champions NATO’s values, and will further strengthen the Alliance once its NATO accession is completed,” the U.S. State Department said in a written statement provided to Reuters. “Sweden’s membership will strengthen our collective defense and enhance our ability to respond to security challenges in the Euro-Atlantic area.”
The deal, Jonson said, “will create better conditions for Sweden to be able to receive support from the United States in the event of a war or crisis.”
Sweden and its neighbor Finland dropped their decades-long stance of non-alignment and applied for NATO membership after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Finland joined NATO in April.
New members must be approved by all existing members of the alliance. Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO countries that have not formally approved Sweden’s accession bid, Fox News reported.