Russia represents the biggest threat to Sweden and its allies until 2030, the Swedish government assessed on Monday in its latest national security strategy.
“An armed attack on Sweden or its allies should not be ruled out,” the document says.
In January, the commander of the armed forces told his fellow citizens to “mentally prepare for war”.
Defense Minister Pal Johnson said that the threat posed by Russia will depend on the course of the war in Ukraine, but that it is “ready to take great political and military risks.”
In mid-June, a Russian military aircraft violated Swedish airspace near the strategically important island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea.
After Russia’s seizure of Crimea, Sweden began to strengthen its military forces, and after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it decided to join NATO. It became a full member of the Western military alliance in March 2024, after 200 years of neutrality.
In the new strategy, Sweden pays great attention to the protection of its strategic assets, especially in the north of the country, where the largest deposits of rare metals in Europe were discovered in Kiruna, Lapland, in 2023.
Rare earth metals make up a group of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table of elements – fifteen lanthanides, scandium and yttrium. Their occurrence on Earth is rare, but they are very useful in modern production processes. They are used in the technology industry, the production of batteries, catalysts, for missiles and many other things, which could ensure the EU’s independence from China and Russia.
They are also important for green technologies including wind turbines and electric vehicles.
Currently, 98 percent of the rare metals used in the Union are imported from China, Hina writes.
