Stockholm, 7 June 2024 (dpa/MIA) — Sweden has announced that it will take part in airspace monitoring under NATO command, just three months after joining the military alliance.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced the move in a statement on Friday. Swedish fighter planes are to be deployed as part of the NATO Air Policing mission, primarily over the Baltic states.

"Sweden has been determined to be an active NATO member from day one, and now the journey can really begin," Kristersson said after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a military base near Stockholm.

Sweden joined NATO on March 7. Sweden, which was militarily non-aligned for many years, applied for NATO membership along with its neighbour Finland following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.