It is impossible to imagine that there will be an attack on Sweden, and NATO will not react, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday evening in Brussels, reports Agerpres.

On the day of Finland’s accession to NATO, he emphasized that Sweden was not alone. “All allies care about Sweden, they have provided bilateral security guarantees, they have increased their presence. It is impossible to imagine that there will be an attack on Sweden, and NATO will not react,” Stoltenberg said.

He reiterated that “Sweden is now closer than ever to membership.”

When asked if he remembered how many hours he devoted to the negotiations on the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, Jens Stoltenberg replied: “I don’t count the hours that way, but I welcome the fact that there are many allies and people in many capitals worked hard to make sure we make progress.”

At the same time, the NATO Secretary General emphasized the fact that the Alliance would also benefit from the accession of Finland, which “has significant armed forces, important capabilities, air defense systems and very well-trained troops.”

Finland became the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Tuesday after handing over its instrument of accession to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken as the treaty’s guardian, and the Finnish flag later flew at NATO headquarters.

Sweden’s entry is currently blocked by Turkey and Hungary, but NATO’s secretary general and allied foreign ministers have expressed hope that Sweden will be able to join the NATO summit in Vilnius in July.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has been invited to this summit, as Stoltenberg announced at the end of the meeting of foreign ministers of the Alliance countries in Brussels, which was also attended by the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba.

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