[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 116 (Thursday, July 14, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S3288]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Sweden

  Madam President, before arriving at the NATO summit in Spain, I 
joined my colleagues in visiting one of the prospective new NATO 
aspirants: Sweden.
  Sweden has long been a security ally. For nearly 200 years, it has 
tried to maintain the semblance of nonalignment. That changed swiftly 
with Vladimir Putin's aggression. It triggered an overwhelming Swedish 
support to join NATO, and Sweden began shipping weapons to Ukraine to 
help in the war effort, something it hadn't done since helping Finland 
resist Nazi aggression in 1939.
  Swedish leaders recognize Russia's aggression today as the same kind 
of behavior seen in Europe in World War II. They know that the 
collective NATO security arrangement is critical to stopping Russia. I 
agree completely and look forward to their NATO membership.
  Putin thought he could fracture NATO by invading Ukraine. Look what 
he did. He stoked petty grievances against NATO, and in the end, we are 
picking up two valuable, important allies.
  And, incidentally, Vladimir Putin, you are now going to have 800 
miles of new NATO territory on your border.