Sweden's NATO Membership Highly Unlikely in Near Future - Official

Sweden will unlikely become a member of NATO in the near future, although Stockholm will surely remain committed to close cooperation with the Alliance, a member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA) told Sputnik.

TBILISI (Sputnik) — Sweden along with Finland were invited to the upcoming July 8-9 NATO summit in Poland as non-aligned states.

"We already have close ties with NATO through exercises. I believe that the level that we are now is quite good and we will continue on that path but as It looks like today, I don't think the Sweden's NATO application is in the near future," Peter Jeppsson said.

In May and earlier in June, Finland and Sweden’s foreign and defense ministers took part, for the first time ever, in NATO ministerial talks in Brussels.

Sweden officially declares itself as neutral and non-aligned, however sometimes contributes to various NATO operations.

Since 2014, NATO has been building up its military presence in eastern European countries bordering Russia, using Moscow's alleged interference in Ukraine as a pretext for the move. Moscow has repeatedly denied the claims and warned the Alliance that its military buildup along Russia’s borders is provocative and could threaten regional and global stability.