Sweden’s Defense Ministry Tells Citizens to Prepare for War, Residents Panic

(RepublicanDaily.org) – Recent remarks from Sweden’s Defense Minister, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, have some Swedes concerned after he warned that, “There could be war in Sweden.”

Speaking at a defense conference called “Society and Defense,” Bohlin warned against complacency, which was a state he said many fell into because of Sweden’s peaceable conditions for more than 210 years.

He said that “taking comfort in this conclusion (of constant peacetime) has become more dangerous than it has been for a very long time.”

Sweden’s last armed conflict was a short-lived war with Norway way back in 1814.

General Micael Byden, who commands Sweden’s armed forces, also said that the threat of the country being in a state of war is a strong possibility as Sweden is poised to become a full-fledged member of the NATO.

“We must understand how serious this situation really is,” Byden said.

The general did clarify, though, that his intent was not to cause any worry among Swedish citizens. His goal, he said, was “to get more people to think about their own situation and their own responsibilities.”

The warning comes as Russia, which continues its invasion of Ukraine, warned Finland, Sweden’s neighboring country, that the country would be the “first to suffer” the Russia’s wrath should relations with NATO deteriorate any further. The Vladimir Putin-run country has accused NATO of interfering with its efforts to invade Ukraine, as the latter country has received billions of dollars’ worth of aid and weaponry from Western countries sympathetic to its plight.

Sweden’s Civil Defense Ministry also released a statement recently saying that the country is now undertaking various measures to prepare for “previously unthinkable scenarios such as heightened preparedness and extreme war.”

Bohlin also pointed out that Russia’s initial armed incursion into Ukraine back in 2014 gave Ukrainians the motivation to prepare its defenses for a future invasion, which did occur when Putin committed Russia’s armed forces to launch a full-scale invasion in 2022.