Sweden-Belgium Flash Report - 26 FEB 24 16:50 PST - Sweden's NATO Membership Approved by Hungary's Parliament

The Hungarian Parliament overwhelmingly approved Sweden's accession into the NATO Alliance, paving the way for the 32nd member of the defensive pact.

Hungary had previously stated that it would approve Sweden's membership after Türkiye and then dragged out the process for another month. An attempt by the minority party in Parliament to accelerate the vote in early February was thwarted.

On Friday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson quietly visited Budapest, a key demand by President Viktor Orban and his political party. The two countries sign an arms agreement, with Hungary agreeing to buy four Saab JAS 39 Gripen multirole fighter jets. 

With ratification approved in Budapest, the final step is the signatures of the country's speaker of parliament and President Viktor Orban, which is expected this week.

In 2023, Türkiye temporarily blocked Sweden's path due to the Nordic nation's stance and alleged support of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by many nations. Türkiye and the PKK have been engaged in a low-scale war accentuated by terror attacks for over four decades. Additionally, Russia conducted hybrid warfare operations in Sweden during the negotiations with Türkiye, attempting to derail its approval.

President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan ultimately set conditions with Sweden and the United States to move ratification forward. In response, Sweden changed its laws and relaxed restrictions on arms sales, and the United States has agreed to sell Block 70 F-16 multirole fighters to Türkiye, dependent on Congressional approval. On January 23, 2024, Ankara approved Sweden's accession. 

Sweden ended 210 years of neutrality, requesting to join the defense alliance after Russia expanded its war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022. It is another blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who claimed a key reason to expand the war against Ukraine was to prevent the further expansion of NATO. When Finland joined the alliance on April 4, 2023, the length of Russia's border with NATO nations doubled.

Sweden has a strong defense industry, which has developed the Archer 155 mm self-propelled howitzer, the CV-90 infantry fighting vehicle, and the previously mentioned Gripen multirole fighter. Domestically developed weapons are specifically designed for Sweden's marshy lands and coastal regions, providing a unique set of engineering and military skills to NATO.

With war raging on the European continent at a scale not seen since 1945, Finland and Sweden officially requested to join NATO in June 2022.

The concern is well placed, with the history of Russian aggression against Sweden and Finland covering three centuries and President Putin's publicly stated long-term goals. In 2011, the Russian leader wrote a manifesto stating he wants to become the modern incarnation of Tzar Peter the Great, including restoring the borders of the Russian Imperial Empire - which would include most of modern-day Finland and Sweden. Previously ignored by Europe and the West, Russia's actions from 2014 to 2023 changed the security landscape.

While NATO now has 32 members, Russia's version, CSTO, is on the brink of officially losing a member. On February 23, 2024, Armenia announced it was suspending participation in CSTO and seeking alliances with India and the United States while working to improve its relations with Türkiye. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan cited CSTO's inability to assist against Azerbaijan's aggression in 2021 and 2022, the failure of Russia's peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, and Moscow's attempts to overthrow the Armenian government in 2023. During Azerbaijan's "police action" in Nagorno-Karabakh, The Foreign Ministry of Russia mocked Armenia's request for assistance due to recent joint training exercises conducted with the United States. 

The cracks in CSTO formed on September 12, 2022, when Azerbaijan attacked Armenia as part of a decades-long territorial dispute. Armenian officials made an Article IV request on the 14th, similar to NATO's Article V, which the alliance denied due to the six-nation bloc's inability to respond. Russia didn't have the available military resources after defeats in Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Ukraine's successful Kharkiv counteroffensive. Belarus was supporting Russia's war of aggression, and members Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan fell into crisis due to their own border dispute.

We extend our congratulations to the two-time winner of NATO Salesperson of the Year, President Putin.

Everything is going to plan.