Sweden’s flag is raised at NATO headquarters to cement its place as the 32nd member of the alliance

Sweden’s national flag has been raised at NATO headquarters to cement the Nordic country’s place as the 32nd member. The ceremony on Monday came more than two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine which persuaded Sweden's reluctant public to seek safety under the alliance’s security umbrella. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Crown Princess Victoria and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg looked on Monday as two soldiers raised the blue banner emblazoned with a yellow cross among the official circle of national flags at the headquarters in Brussels. Sweden set aside decades of post-World War II neutrality when it formally joined NATO on March 7. Finland joined last year in another historic move ending years of military nonalignment.