RTL Today – Big lift: Sweden to increase military spending on Ukraine’s war
The Swedish government on Thursday announced plans for a sharp increase in military spending to two percent of GDP “as soon as possible”, citing the security threat from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Sweden, which ended decades of defense cuts following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, said it hoped to reach its goal within a decade but did not specify a specific date.
“We hope to get there as soon as possible,” Social Democrat Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson told reporters.
The Scandinavian country, which during the Cold War devoted up to four percent of its economic output to the defense budget, drastically reduced its spending in the 1990s and early 2000s, to around one percent.
“The war in Europe will affect the Swedish people. We must continue to strengthen Sweden’s defense capabilities,” Andersson said.
“The security situation in the vicinity of Sweden has deteriorated over time. The Russian attack on Ukraine further aggravates it,” she says.
Andersson also warned that the number of young people called in to do compulsory military service – which was reintroduced in 2017 – would increase.
The right-wing opposition is expected to approve the plan in the Riksdag.
– Submarine clock –
At a later press conference, the Swedish Armed Forces’ Chief of Operations, Michael Claesson, said that the decision to increase funding would affect “all citizens and future generations”, although it is too early to say in which areas Sweden’s military capacity will be strengthened.
“There is currently no plan for the (military) growth announced. We need to see what this will mean concretely in the near future,” Claesson said.
As another sign of increased tensions, the Swedish Navy this week urged people living on islands in the Stockholm archipelago to keep a watchful eye for possible indications of suspected underwater activities, such as submarine periscopes or suspected wave formations, reported local media.
Swedish public opinion has for the first time swung in favor of NATO membership after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But Prime Minister Andersson has consistently rejected that option, saying earlier this week that an application to join the transatlantic alliance at this time risks “destabilizing” northern Europe, as Moscow vehemently opposes all NATO expansion.
Neighboring Finland, which is also not a member of NATO, has also refused membership at the moment, although political and parliamentary discussions are taking place there.
Sweden’s defense budget for 2021 is approximately SEK 66 billion (EUR 6.2 billion, USD 6.8 billion), and the country had already agreed to raise that level to SEK 91 billion by 2025.
In 2020, its defense budget amounted to 1.2 percent of GDP, and increased to about 1.5 percent in the next few years with the investments already announced.
The two percent target is the same level that NATO requires of its members, even if many do not reach the target.
Following the invasion of Ukraine, several European nations, including Germany and Denmark, have announced strong investments in their military.