A warning from Swedish defense officials to prepare for war as the country moves closer to joining NATO has sparked some panic and caused supplies to fly off shelves, according to reports.
“For a country where peace has been a comfortable companion for almost 210 years, the idea that peace is a constant is conveniently familiar,” said Carl Oskar Bolin, Sweden's Minister of Civil Defense. Minister Karl-Oskar Bolin spoke in the Folk Ochi Forswals, or “Society and Peace.'' Defense,” the annual national conference was held in Søren on Sunday.
“But it is now more dangerous than ever to be comfortable with this conclusion,” he said, according to government records. “Many people have said it before me, but let me say it more clearly, in an official capacity, with naked clarity: There could be a war in Sweden.”
General Michael Biden, the commander-in-chief of the Swedish Armed Forces who visited Ukraine's Eastern Front in December, also spoke at Sunday's conference, warning all Swedes that the possibility of war is on the horizon, as his country is on the brink of war. He warned people to prepare mentally for sex. Not enough for NATO member countries.
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Karl-Oskar Bolin, Sweden's Minister of Civil Defense, speaks at the National Conference on Social and Defense in Saren, Sweden on January 7, 2024, about “Building social resilience can't wait.'' (Pontas Lundahl/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)
“We need to understand how serious this situation really is and how mentally prepared people are, down to a personal level,” Biden said, according to Euractic.
According to the BBC, Mr Biden later told the Afton Blade newspaper that his intention was “not to worry people. My ambition is to get more people to think about their situation and their responsibilities. ” he said. Neighboring Finland, which recently joined NATO, was warned by Russian officials last month that it would be “the first to suffer” if relations deteriorate further.
Sweden's Defense Minister Poul Jonsson issued a similar warning on Monday, saying “an armed attack against Sweden cannot be ruled out,” GB News reported.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that Turkey's parliament appears on track to ratify Sweden's membership in NATO in the coming weeks, according to Reuters. In that case, Hungarian approval would be required. Sweden remained neutral in World War II and has not been involved in any armed conflict since a short war with Norway in 1814. On Sunday, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a conference that Sweden is on track to meet NATO's goal of devoting 2% of GDP to military spending. Defense spending has doubled since 2020, the BBC reported.
Swedish children's rights organization Bliss reported an increase in calls this week from young people worried about war after seeing posts about the possibility of war on TikTok.
Bliss spokeswoman Maja Dahl told the BBC: “This is a well-planned event and is not a gimmick.” “When they released information like this for adults, they should have also provided information for children.”
Former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson reportedly told Swedish television that although the security situation was serious, “war is not imminent.”
User @amuse, an account dedicated to supporting independent journalists, wrote in a post to X's approximately 290,000 followers that “the government and military have warned people that they must prepare for war. “After that, people in Sweden panicked and bought emergency supplies.”
Supreme Commander of Sweden Michael Biden speaks during a speech at the Social Defense Council in Saren, January 8, 2024. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)
“The government is currently preparing Sweden for previously unthinkable scenarios, including increased preparedness and extreme war,” Sweden's Ministry of Civil Defense said on Monday. “We are increasing our preparedness in several areas,” the statement said. “As part of this, the government has now tasked the Swedish Regional Protection and Preparedness Agency (MSB) and the National Board of Health and Welfare with carrying out a supply analysis on the need for essential medical products and how to obtain them.” So that good care is provided. ”
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Bolin's speech appealed to Swedes, municipal commissioners, officials and civilians working in emergency preparedness to take responsibility for “situational awareness” and preparedness and to consider volunteering with defense organizations. .
Bolin argued that Putin's attack in 2014 united Ukrainians and informed them to begin preparing for response and resistance before a full-scale invasion in 2022.
“The world faces a riskier security outlook than at any time since the end of World War II. “We are demonstrating this in our actions as a weapon of democracy,” the civil defense minister said. “All of this will be required of us now more than ever. And this starts with the recognition that defending Sweden is a matter for all of us.”
“It may sound dark and dystopian,” he added. “But think about it the other way around. For the majority of us, our country is not a hotel room that you can come and go from, nor is it a generic piece of land that you don't feel an affinity for. , this is our only real home.”
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy appears on the screen during the National Congress of Social and Defense in Saren on January 7, 2024. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)
At the conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed to Sweden to work with other countries to step up weapons production and “cooperate, develop and grow stronger together.” Sweden is among the countries training Ukrainian pilots, and the capital Stockholm is also considering sending advanced Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine, the BBC reported.
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In a post on Telegram, Russian lawmaker Alexei Pushkov, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, derided the war warning by Swedish authorities as nothing more than “anti-Russian paranoia.”
“Russian submariners have been fishing there for many years, and for some this has become their main occupation in life,” he wrote. “Apparently, in this way they are trying to give Sweden a geopolitical importance that Sweden does not have. Sometimes it seems that some Swedish military personnel and journalists almost dream of war. There is.”
