Financial Times: Swedes being told how to prepare for war

INTERNATIONAL

January 17, 2018 - 10:59 AM EST

BY MAX GREENWOOD

Sweden is preparing to send a brochure to millions of its citizens seeking to ready them for the possibility of a conflict, as concerns about Russia's military posture in the region grow.

Financial Times reported Wednesday that the brochure will seek to inform citizens how to cope with crisis in the event of a war, including how to secure necessities, like food and water.

“All of society needs to be prepared for conflict, not just the military. We haven’t been using words such as total defence or high alert for 25-30 years or more. So the knowledge among citizens is very low,” Christina Andersson, who's heading up the project at the Swedish civil contingencies agency, told FT.

A similar document was distributed by the Swedish government in 1961, and they were issued for internal government use until 1991, according to FT.

The brochure, titled "If Crisis or War Comes," is set to be released in May, and comes amid concerns about Russian military overtures in Europe. 

At the same time, support in Sweden for joining NATO has risen in recent years, and whether the country should become a member of the military alliance has been a subject of public debate.


"This was a subject that wasn't really on the agenda some years ago," Carl Bildt, a former Swedish prime minister and foreign minister, told Politico in an interview last year. "It is now something that is very much on the agenda."

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