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Speeches by Swedish politicians are interpreted as a warning
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- Author: Paul Kirby
- Scroll, BBC News
1 hour ago
Warnings from two senior Swedish defense officials warning the population against war preparations sparked panic and accusations of scaremongering.
Civil Protection Minister CarlOskar Bohlin said at a conference that “there could be war in Sweden.”
His message was then supported by the head of the armed forces, General Micael Biden, who said that all Swedes should mentally prepare for this possibility.
However, opposition politicians criticized the tone of the warnings.
Former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Swedish television that while the security situation was serious, “it is not as if war is imminent.”
Children's rights organization Bris said there had been a significant increase in calls from concerned young people to its helpline after seeing reports or posts on TikTok raising the issue.
“Everything was well prepared, there was nothing they missed,” Bris spokeswoman Maja Dahl told the BBC. “They should provide information for children when giving this type of information to adults.”
Despite the harshness of the messages, the statements by the defense minister and the military chief are seen as a warning.
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General Micael Biden said Swedes need to mentally prepare for a possible conflict
After more than two centuries of peace, Sweden is just a few steps away from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The country is just waiting for approval for its entry into the parliaments of Turkey and Hungary.
The armed forces chief said his comments were nothing new.
A month ago he visited Ukraine's Eastern Front, and Sweden is among a group of countries training Ukrainian pilots.
Stockholm is also reportedly considering sending modern Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine.
“My goal with this (warning) is not to alarm people; “It’s about getting more people to think about their own situation and their own responsibilities,” General Biden told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
Finland has already joined NATO, and Russian officials have suggested that the country “will be the first to suffer” if tensions with NATO escalate.
The Swedish defense minister said his goal was not to make people sleepless, but to make them aware of what is really happening.
He called on local authorities, emergency strategists and individuals to respond.
“If there is one thing that keeps me up at night, it is the feeling that things are moving too slowly,” Bohlin said last Sunday (July 1) at the Society and Defense conference.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Sweden during the conference to cooperate with his country and others in building weapons and to “become stronger together.”
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson added that Sweden would meet NATO's target of spending 2% of its GDP on military defense by 2024, which would mean doubling its spending compared to 2020.
But for defense expert Oscar Jonsson, the tone of the Swedish authorities' warnings is a kind of “storm in a teacup.”
According to him, 90% of the statements arise from frustration that very little is being done to build up the country's civil and military defense.
“Time is limited and the aim was to serve as a warning to authorities, individuals and departments,” he told the BBC.
“The Swedish armed forces are incredibly competent, but the scale is not even close. The latest defense law states that we should create 3.5 brigades, while Ukraine had 28 at the start of the war,” he added.
General Biden's warning of possible war follows a warning from the head of Poland's National Security Office, Jacek Siewiera, a month ago.
According to Siewiera, “To avoid war with Russia, the countries on NATO’s eastern flank should set a time horizon of three years to prepare for confrontation.”
He described as “very optimistic” a report by the German Council on Foreign Relations that Germany and NATO should prepare their armed forces to defend themselves against a Russian attack within six years.
Jonsson, who is affiliated with the Swedish Defense University, said several factors were necessary for a war between Swedes to occur.
This includes Russia's war in Ukraine coming to an end, Moscow having time to rebuild and rearm its armed forces, and Europe losing military support from the United States.
All of this is “a possibility, but unlikely,” he added.