Sweden sees a greater Russian threat to telecoms, power grids
Sweden’s domestic security agency SAPO warned on Tuesday that it expects Russia to increase activities that threaten Swedish security in areas including telecoms and the power grid.
SAPO chief Charlotte von Essen said Russia’s actions were “unpredictable,” but stressed that “we can expect Russian security-threatening activities against Sweden to increase.”
The sectors “where there is reason to be particularly vigilant to counter espionage and sabotage” are telecommunications, electricity supply and transportation of “critical material”, von Essen said. She didn’t elaborate on what she meant by that later.
“From the Russian side, there is an interest in disrupting these areas,” von Essen added. “These are sectors where attacks against Sweden can cause damage to the rest of Europe as well.”
She spoke at the end of the three-day People and Defense conference in Salen, a ski resort in central Sweden. The annual event was attended by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Swedish foreign affairs and security experts.
Von Essen said that SAPO expects Russia to use unofficial platforms such as the Russian diaspora, institutions and companies in Sweden to a greater extent than before.
She also warned that SAPO sees an increased spread of “conspiracy theories and anti-state messages, which in the long run risks undermining trust in society’s institutions, politicians’ decision-making and the state’s legitimacy”.
“Both the threat of assassination and the threat to our constitution can arise in broad extremism. This is a development that plays into the hands of foreign power, says von Essen.
She declined to say whether Russian activity had increased since Sweden – and neighboring Finland – applied to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Both Nordic countries have a long history of military non-alignment.