Swedish municipalities break off ties with Russian sister towns 

The municipalities of Lycksele and Norrtälja have both taken decisions to break off their deals with their Russian sister towns. Lycksele’s municipal council on Monday took a unanimous decision to break its link to Olonets in Russian Karelia.

“With this attack on Ukraine, which I see as an attack on democracy as a whole, which Putin and his government are doing, we have to take a position against the country which is doing this. It’s not OK,” said Roland Sjögren, a municipal commissioner in Lykcsele. 

In total, 16 Swedish municipalities have ties to Russian equivalents, according to the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKR). Luleå and Piteå have suspended their agreements and Karlskrona is waiting for guidance from Sweden’s foreign ministry.

Ninety Ukrainian refugees arrive by ferry in Karlskrona 

Around 90 refugees from Ukraine arrived in the port of Karlskrona on Tuesday morning on a ferry from the Polish port of Gdynia, Thomas Martinsson, a commissioner for Sweden’s border police, has told Swedish state broadcaster SVT.

Interest in Swedish bomb shelters surges as a result of Ukraine invasion 

According to Sweden’s Civil Contingencies Agency, the invasion of Ukraine has led to a surge in questions from the public about the country’s 65,000 bomb shelters, which theoretically have enough space for seven million people. 

See our article on bomb shelters here. 

Swedish alcohol monopoly pulls Russian products from shelves

Sweden’s alcohol monopoly has decided to stop selling all vodka and other types of Russian alcohol in protest at the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The decision from Systembolaget, which came only hours after Alko, its Finnish equivalent announced a similar move, will apply with immediate effect.

“Put simply, this is because of Russia’s invasion and that the attack will mean great suffering for the Ukrainian people,” Ulf Sjödin, the company’s Head of Category Management, told the TT newswire. “I wouldn’t say it was a protest, more just a natural consequence.”

You can read our story here. 

Volvo suspends production and sales of cars in Russia

Swedish truck maker Volvo said on Monday it had halted production at its Russian factory and stopped sales in Russia as a result of sanctions and a deteriorating security situation.

Spokesman Claes Eliasson said Volvo had told suppliers on Friday that it would no longer accept deliveries to the factory in Kaluga, some 150 kilometres (93 miles) southwest of Moscow.

“As a consequence the production line was stopped this morning,” Eliasson told AFP. “The reason is in part the sanctions that have come into effect and the general security situation in the region,” he added, saying production would remain halted “until further notice”.

Read the full story here.