Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson indicated the country could increase its defense spending amid the risk of hybrid warfare in the Nordic and Baltic regions.
“I do not rule out at all that the situation will require us to take more steps to build up and expand the Swedish defense,” Kristersson said in opening remarks at a security conference, Folk och Forsvar, in the ski resort of Salen on Sunday.
Kristersson pointed out that the Baltic countries invest about 3% of their economy on defense while Finland allocates 2.4% but has twice as many conscripts despite a smaller population than Sweden’s. “European NATO must do more,” he added.
His comments come as NATO increases its surveillance operations in the Baltic Sea, with two ships deployed to the area following suspected sabotage of undersea cables between Finland and Estonia.
The prime minister said it would be wrong to draw hasty conclusions on the latest episode of cable damage, but added that “Sweden is not naive and hostile intentions cannot be ruled out.”
On the risks posed specifically by Russia’s shadow fleet, Foreign Affairs Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard detailed specific countermeasure plans to lower the price of Russia oil and to identify more vessels so that they can be sanctioned.
“I have written a letter to urge the European Commission to propose a lower oil price ceiling within the coordination of the G7,” the minister said in a speech on Sunday evening.
In a separate press conference, the government announced Sweden’s armed forces and coast guard would deepen their cooperation in the Baltic Sea. The prime minister also said his country would commit three warships and a plane to a planned NATO surveillance operation in the region in the coming days.
The Nordic nation officially became NATO’s newest member in March last year in a move that was seen as solidifying the defense alliance’s grip over Northern Europe and the Baltic region.
“Sweden is not at war, but there is no peace either,” Kristersson said.