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On Monday next week that is on 11th of March 2024 Sweden is set to join the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) and may become a logistics hub for military alliance in the event of a conflict with Russia, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing officials.

We know that Sweden has no direct border with Russia and its role in NATO’s plans in the event of a conflict may differ from that of states that do.

The country would act not only as a logistics hub but also as a direct route for delivering reinforcements to Finland and the Baltic countries, the officials said.

It may be recalled that on Tuesday last the Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok signed the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership, making Hungary the last member of the alliance to do so.

The next day, Swedish broadcaster TV4 reported that the official accession ceremony would take place on March 11 and would be attended by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and the commander-in-chief of the Swedish armed forces, Micael Byden.

Many media reports had stated in February earlier that Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson indicated that Moscow had no intention of attacking the NATO countries.

The Russian president added that Western countries were starting to understand that Russia’s strategic defeat in its conflict with Ukraine was impossible, and therefore they should better contemplate their next steps.

In the past couple of years Russia has seen an unprecedented NATO activity near its western borders.

Its an open secret that Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern about NATO’s buildup of forces in Europe. The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that Moscow remains open to dialogue with NATO, but on an equal footing, while the West should abandon its policy of militarising the continent.