Recently the Swedish government sent out leaflets to all Swedish households giving advice on what to do in case of war or crisis. According to the Economist, these types of leaflets have not been distributed since 1961. To me, this indicates that the Swedish government takes the current security situation quite seriously. It makes sense to be weary of Russia given what has been going on in Ukraine and Syria and given how close Sweden is to Russia. Russia is also historical enemy of Sweden at least since the Great Northern War when Russia took Sweden’s Baltic provinces and Karelia, where St Petersburg is located now. Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared mission accomplished in Syria and that too could be a worrying sign for Sweden and others who are afraid of Russia. Russia might not be strong enough to fight on two fronts so I’d expect Russia’s neighbours will be more anxious now that the Syria intervention is slowly winding down, potentially freeing up resources to be used in other places.
There are definitely good reasons for the Swedish government to be worried but I’m still a bit surprised that a government which describes its foreign policy as a feminist foreign policy to try to make the population not take peace for granted. The Löfven government, and other governments dating back several decades, have emphasised values and non-alignment. I have previously stated that I think we are moving towards a multipolar world and this leaflet coupled with nearly universal campaign promises to give more money to the military it seems Sweden is quite nervous about Russia. Could this lead to Sweden joining NATO? or establishing another alliance aimed at containing Russia? Only time will tell but one thing is for sure, Swedish security policy is changing and war seems to once again be a possibility.
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