Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson announced that her country has decided to apply to join NATO, following the example of Finland in a new step that will increase tension with Russia.
Anderson said that talks to join NATO will not take more than a year, she said.
Sweden's decision follows a similar decision taken by Finland, to give the two countries bordering Russia a new foothold for NATO on the Russian border.
Sweden and Finland thus renounced decades of military non-alignment to join NATO for fear of being attacked after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
The Kremlin said on Monday that Finland and Sweden's decision to join NATO would not improve security in Europe.
"We are not convinced that the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO will somehow strengthen or improve the security structures on our continent," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"This is a serious issue and one that worries us, and we will follow very carefully what the practical consequences of Finland and Sweden joining NATO will be in terms of our security, which must be guaranteed in an absolutely unconditional way," he added.
But he also noted that compared to Ukraine, Russia and Finland or Sweden have no territorial disputes.
Earlier on Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said such a decision was a "grave mistake, the consequences of which would be enormous."
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