applied to join the NATO alliance. The public opinion in the Nordic region had changed in favour of joining NATO since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 of the same year.. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in March 2022 that her government would have to respond if Sweden became a NATO member. However, in June 2022 President Vladimir Putin contradicted the statement, claiming that Sweden and Finland can "join whatever they want” on the condition that there will be no NATO military deployment in either country. Military Sweden has employed its military on numerous occasions since the end of the Cold War, from Bosnia and Congo to Afghanistan and Libya. According to one study, "this military activism is driven both by the Swedish internationalist tradition of "doing good" in the world, but also for instrumental purposes. These include a desire for political influence in international institutions, an interest in collective milieu shaping, and a concern to improve the interoperability and effectiveness of the Swedish military." Participation in international organizations AfDB Amnesty International AsDB Australia Group BIS CBSS Council of Europe CERN EAPC EBRD ECE EIB ESA EU FAO G-9 G-10 IADB IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICCt ICRM IDA IEA IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO Inmarsat Intelsat Interpol IOC IOM ISO ITU ITUC MINURSO NAC Nordic Council NEA NIB NSG OECD OPCW OSCE PCA PFP Transport Community UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNHCR UNHRC UNIDO UNIKOM UNITAR UNMEE UNMIBH UNMIK UNMOGIP UNMOP UNOMIG UNTAET UNTSO UNEP UPU WCO WEU (observer) EFTU WFP WHO WIPO WMO WTrO Zangger Committee Multilateral Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania See also Politics of Sweden List of diplomatic missions in Sweden List of diplomatic missions of Sweden List of state visits made by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden Scandinavian defense union Visa requirements for Swedish citizens Arctic policy of Sweden List of ambassadors of Sweden to Ukraine References Further reading Elgström, Ole, and Magnus Jerneck. "Activism and adaptation: Swedish security strategies, 1814–85." Diplomacy and Statecraft 8.3 (1997): 210–236. Grimberg, Carl. A History of Sweden (1935) online free Horn, David Bayne. Great Britain and Europe in the eighteenth century (1967) covers 1603–1702; pp 236–69. Lindström, Peter, and Svante Norrhem. Flattering Alliances: Scandinavia, Diplomacy and the Austrian-French Balance of Power, 1648–1740 (Nordic Academic Press, 2013). Makko, Aryo. Ambassadors of Realpolitik: Sweden, the CSCE and the Cold War (2016) excerpt Nordstrom, Byron J. The History of