Swedish Protection Minister Peter Hultqvist mentioned his nation’s turnabout on pursuing membership in NATO doesn’t imply it’s abandoning its standing as a impartial peacemaker, however Russia’s warfare in Ukraine has “essentially” modified the state of affairs in Europe.
“Our values are the identical values as different nations in Europe … that we attempt to create peace and we attempt to create peaceable options,” Hultqvist mentioned in an interview with DW anchor Gerhard Elfers.
“However we’re not naive, we see the event round us and we should make conclusions from that state of affairs,” he added.
Hultqvist added that the opportunity of Sweden storing nuclear weapons will not be on the agenda. Ought to Sweden be allowed into the transatlantic army alliance, the largest change could be to participate in NATO workouts and function a deterrent to Russia.
“The entire concept to be a member of NATO can be that we’ll have NATO representations in several form of workouts and actions on Swedish soil,” the protection minister mentioned. “I believe we will construct the next stage and better threshold in the direction of Russia with NATO membership.”
Almost about Turkey blocking Sweden and Finland’s NATO bids, Hultqvist mentioned that his nation and NATO members are attempting to resolve the difficulty diplomatically.
“Our ambition is to resolve this drawback,” he mentioned.
Interview carried out by: Gerhard Elfers
Edited by: Sean Sinico