Domestic defense capabilities are actively debated in Sweden after a recent claim by the country’s commander-in-chief that Sweden could only defend itself for a week in case of attack.
Deputy Prime Minister Jan Björklund says to Svenska Dagbladet that Sweden need a stronger national defense capability. He points to the developments in Russia with President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly authoritarian rule and aggressive rhetoric against its neighbors.
“I do not say that Russia is a threat today, but for the first time since the Cold War, Russia is seriously rearming. An attack against Sweden is unrealistic, but in an upheated mode, Sweden and Swedish territory could be affected,” warns Jan Björklund.
Foreign Minister Carl Bildt also acknowledges that developments in Russia are worrying.
Carl Bildt, however, downplays Russia as a threat against Sweden. Interviewed by SVT on Sunday, the Foreign Minister says Russia’s rearming could be seen as a bigger threat to Russia itself.
“I think the development in Russia is worrying. There is a lack of modernization in other parts of the Russian society and Russian economy, and I think it is worrying that the large reliance on defense supersedes other important priorities as for instance education and healthcare. This is a bigger threat to Russia itself that it is to the outside world,” says Carl Bildt.
He continues: “Russia is an important neighbor for us, we want good relations with them and we want Russia to be a welfare state and that requires more than a modernization of the defense.”
Russia’s former Minister of Finance, Alexei Kudrin, said on the day of his resignation that he had been increasingly disturbed by the risks posed to Russia’s budget by social and defense spending.
After Kudrin’s resignation, the Finance Ministry last summer presented the main direction of Russia’s bugets for the period 2013-2015, including a 26 percent rise in defense spending flavored with cut in both education and health care budgets.
