Swedish PM hits out at Russian media over nuclear weapons 'disinformation'

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told the Folk och försvar defence conference on Sunday that placing nuclear weapons on Swedish soil in peacetime was not on the table.

But several Russian media wrongly reported that he had said the opposite, that it would allow nuclear weapons in peacetime, reports Norwegian broadcaster TV2.

His exact quote, according to the Swedish government's official English translation of his speech as seen by The Local, was: "The whole of Nato’s responsibility is also Sweden’s responsibility. We will be a long-term, loyal and committed member. Like Norway and Denmark in their time, Sweden is acceding to Nato without any formal conditions. We see however – as little as other Nordic countries – that having nuclear weapons on our own territory in peacetime is in the cards."

The last sentence could possibly be misinterpreted when read, but what he means if you listen to the speech in Swedish is that nuclear weapons in peacetime is not on the cards.

Russian news site RBC has since corrected its article, with a note saying the text has been “modified due to a translation error”, but Swedish news agency TT reported late on Tuesday evening that the wrong information at least at the time remained on Lenta, Gazeta and News.ru.

Kristersson, leader of the right-wing Moderates, took to Facebook to slam the reports:

“Sweden, our neighbouring countries and the rest of Europe are threatened by Russia’s hybrid warfare – and Russian disinformation – at the same time as Russia is waging a full-scale invasion war against Ukraine. The other day, Säpo [the Swedish security services] warned of more and more Russian espionage in Sweden. Now, the Russian media are spreading pure disinformation about what I said in my speech in Sälen.”

Sweden in May last year announced it would apply to join Nato, following Russia's attack on Ukraine.