Aleks Phillips & Paulin Kola
BBC News
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Swedish Security Services said that Russia’s activities are primarily aimed at undermining NATO unity
Scandinavian National Security Services SAPO said Russia poses the biggest threat to Sweden due to its aggressive attitude towards the West.
While Sweden was part of the NATO military alliance, he wrote that Sweden strengthened its security, but also led to an increase in Russia’s intelligence reporting activities. Russia denies fraud.
Sapo also said the security situation in Sweden is serious – foreign powers are operating in hybrid wars in more threatening ways, along with incidents of violent extremism.
“There is a specific risk that the security situation could be even worse,” said Charlotte Von Essen, head of SAPO.
Sweden became a member of NATO last year and was considered the best guarantee against Russia following the serious invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
That January, the civil defense minister warned that Russia’s invasion would “have a war in Sweden” in the near future.
Sapo said on Tuesday that Russia’s intelligence reporting efforts aim primarily to undermine unity among NATO members, counter Western support for Ukraine and avoid sanctions.
The activities said that in the face of accumulation of Swedish European defences, Russia was “increasingly aggressive and more likely to pose risk.”
“When collecting intelligence, Russian security and intelligence services use a wide range of resources and a variety of platforms,” the agency wrote, adding that these activities were limited by banishing intelligence agents.
Von Essen said Swedes need to be wary of “a widespread anti-state narrative and conspiracy theories” that attempt to act as an unstable force, adding that “it’s important not to normalize the new situation.”
In its report, SAPO mentioned suspicious incidents involving infrastructure and which countries could have been “in some cases” behind them.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a series of submarine cables and gas pipelines have been damaged on suspicion of attack, urging NATO to launch a surveillance mission at sea.
The latest such violation was reported last month near Gotland, Sweden’s largest island.
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Sapo said they are dealing with the aftermath of the “bad incident” in Orebro, in which Sweden killed nine people
Russia has denied any involvement in efforts to sabotage the country’s democratic system or to sabotage the economy.
The Swedish government has also identified Iran and China as pose a serious security threat to Scandinavian countries.
Last year, SAPO accused Iranian intelligence of hacking it into a text messaging service and sending 15,000 messages to Swedes after burning several Qurans. Iran calls such allegations “baseless.”
According to SAPO’s 2025 report, the threats in the foreign intelligence report included cyberattacks, technology theft and tracking the movements of foreign dissidents living in Sweden. Beijing also denies such involvement.
Sapo also said the threat of terrorism remains high, but it was diversified not only to include “ideologically motivated actors,” but also to include foreign forces fascinated by radical violence online and violence incited by young people.
Von Essen said Sapo saw examples of countries including Russia and Iran, often to direct young people and engage in violent acts.
Serious attacks have been occurring in France, Germany and Austria, the SAPO chief said.
Sweden itself was dealing with the aftermath of “a horrifying incident in Orebro,” she noted, referring to Sweden’s worst massive shooting last month, when gunmen attacked an education centre in central Sweden, killing nine people.
Sapo said violent Islamic extremism and violent right-wing terrorism remained a prominent threat.
Sweden is on high alert against terrorism – threat levels are rated on four of a five-point scale.
