Sweden, Finland urge residents to be ready for war

STOCKHOLM: Sweden on Monday began sending millions of pamphlets advising residents how to prepare for possible war and Finland launched a new website, as Ukraine fights the grinding three-year Russian invasion.

The Nordic neighbours have dropped decades of military non-alignment to join the US-led defence alliance Nato in the wake of Russia´s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. “The security situation is serious and we all need to strengthen our resilience to face various crises and ultimately war,” said Mikael Frisell, the director of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) which sent out the brochures. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Stockholm has repeatedly urged Swedes to prepare both mentally and logistically for the possibility of an armed conflict.

After the end of the Cold War, the country drastically slashed its defence spending as it focused its military efforts on international peacekeeping missions. But it reversed course following Russia´s 2014 annexation of Crimea. Since then, Stockholm has reintroduced limited conscription, massively increased defence spending and reopened a garrison on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland.