2023-06-25 09:06:28
NATO
The Swedish parliament’s defence committee has warned that Russia still has fighter jets, cruise missiles, and nuclear weapons capable of attacking Sweden, and could remain a threat for decades.
Published: 19 June 2023 12:57 CEST
Updated: 25 June 2023 09:06 CEST
Hans Wallmark and Peter Hultqvist at a press conference with the defence committee. Photo: Lars Schröder/TT
In the new report, the cross party committee presented its latest analysis of Sweden’s security, dubbed serious time, a term stemming from world war two propaganda roughly translating as “a time of gravity or seriousness”.
The committee stated in its report that an armed attack on Sweden remained a real possibility.
“It can’t be ruled out that military force or further threats to use such force could be used against Sweden either,” the report reads.
“This is serious time,” the chairman of the committee, Hans Wallmark, said. “There is an ongoing war in Europe, we are dealing with a nationalist, imperialistic and armed Russia. Developments in Asia and the Mediterranean affect us.”
Russia could pose a threat for ‘decades’
The threat level has more or less remained the same as in 2017, when the last security analysis was presented. Back then, the threat of attack was upgraded from “unlikely” to “cannot be ruled out”.
Since then, Russia has invaded Ukraine, the effects of which the new report analyses in detail.
The committee, comprised of politicians from all eight parties in parliament, highlighted the risk of the war drawing on or escalating in its report, warning that “an escalation could involve attacks on other states”.
“The conditions on which Swedish security policy is based have fundamentally changed,” Wallmark said. “That is a fact that politics, but also Swedish citizens, have to take on board. It has consequences.”
The committee further states that despite the war in Ukraine, Russia is still capable of “carrying out operations with air forces, naval forces, long-range attack methods or nuclear warheads” against Sweden, as well using special forces.
“Russia represents a serious threat for the foreseeable future,” former defence minister Peter Hultqvist said. “That could be the case for decades.”
Influence and sabotage
The threat to Sweden is described in the report as broad and increasingly complex, encompassing everything from disinformation campaigns, influence operations, cyber attacks and illegal collection of intelligence to terrorism, sabotage and attacks on critical infrastructure.
China also poses an increasingly threat to Sweden, the report concludes.
“China presents a challenge to global security and the rules-based world order, which could lead to multiple developments which could potentially be very serious,” the committee writes.
Sweden’s plans to join Nato will also have an effect on security policy, requiring new priorities. One of these key tasks, the committee writes, is to participate in the collective defence of northern Europe, with Sweden working as a so-called advance area for allied land, air and sea forces.
In general, the committee is in agreement, with the Left and Green Parties disagreeing with the majority when it comes to Nato membership. The Green Party is also critical of the committee’s statements on Turkey, arguing that Sweden’s status as a candidate country for joining Nato has led to the Nordic country losing its ability to criticise other countries.
“Not even the defence committee can make nuanced statements about Turkey in the current situation,” the Green Party’s representative in the defence committee, Emma Berginger, said.
“Neither Turkey’s democratic failings or domestic repression are mentioned.”
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