 | |
 Russia |  Sweden |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Embassy of Russia, Stockholm | Embassy of Sweden, Moscow |
Russia–Sweden relations date back to the 10th century; whenVikings calledVarangians participated in the founding ofnew states that later evolved intoRussia,Ukraine andBelarus.
Historically the two countries have been connected since ancient days, when Swedish Vikings traded on the big Russian rivers and settled in Slavic settlements that later became large cities such asNovgorod andKyiv. These settlements gave rise to mutual bonds that were also dynastical, as a Varangian king (Rurik) started a dynasty that came to rule uninterruptedly from the 9th to 16th century as depicted in theNestor's chronicle. Even the name Russia is derived from Varangians as the old name for Vikings in the east were Rus.
During the Middle Ages several wars were fought between the Swedes and Russians, andeleven wars have been fought between Russia and Sweden since the 12th century.[citation needed]
The central theme of the 1600–1725 era was the struggle between Sweden and Russia for control of the Baltic, as well as territories around it. Russia was ultimately the winner, and as a result Sweden lost its status as a major power.[1] In 1610 the Swedish army marched into Moscow under the command ofJakob De la Gardie. From 1623 to 1709, Swedish policy, particularly underGustavus Adolphus (1611–32) andCharles XII (1697–1718), encouraged and militarily supported Ukrainian opposition to Muscovite Russian hegemony. Gustavus Adolphus fought theIngrian War against Russia. It ended in 1617 with theTreaty of Stolbovo, which excluded Russia from the Baltic Sea. Sweden's most dramatic defeat on the battleground came in 1709 at thebattle of Poltava, in an attempt to second the Ukrainian rebellion leader Mazepa.[2] In these wars superior Russian forces often outnumbered Swedes, which however often stood their ground in battles such as those of Narva (1700) and Svensksund (1790) due to Sweden's capable military organization.
In 1700, a triple alliance ofDenmark–Norway,Saxony–Poland–Lithuania and Russia launched a threefold attack on the Swedish protectorate ofSwedish Holstein-Gottorp and on the Swedish provinces ofLivonia andIngria, aiming to take advantage while Sweden was unaligned and ruled by a young and inexperienced king. Thus began theGreat Northern War of 1700 to 1721. Leading theSwedish army against the alliance, KingCharles XII won multiple victories - despite being usually significantly outnumbered. A major Swedish victory over a Russian army some three times the size in 1700 at theBattle of Narva compelled Tsar Peter I to sue for peace, which Charles then rejected. In 1706 Swedish forces under generalCarl Gustav Rehnskiöld defeated a combined army ofSaxony and Russia at theBattle of Fraustadt. Russia now remained the sole remaining anti-Swedish hostile power.[3]
Charles' subsequent invasion of Russia (1708-1709) met with initial success as victory followed victory, most notably at theBattle of Holowczyn in July 1708, when the Swedish army routed a Russian force twice its size. However, the campaign ended with disaster for Sweden when its army suffered heavy losses to a Russian force more than twice its size atPoltava in July [O.S. June] 1709 (Charles had been incapacitated by a wound prior to the battle, rendering him unable to take command). The defeat was followed by the Swedes'Surrender at Perevolochna three days later. Charles spent the following years in exile in theOttoman Empire before returning to Swedish territory in 1714. He led an assault on Norway, trying to evict the Danish king from the war once more in order to aim all his forces at the Russians. Two campaigns met with frustration and ultimate failure, concluding with Charles' death at theSiege of Fredriksten in 1718.[4]
By this time, most of theSwedish Empire was under foreign military occupation, though Sweden itself remained free. This territorial situation was later formalized, albeit moderated, in the 1721Treaty of Nystad. The end of the war saw not only the end of the Swedish Empire but also of its powerful monarchy and war machine.[5][6]
During the Great Northern War, Russian authorities sent Swedishprisoners of war in considerable numbers toSiberia, where came to number perhaps 25% of the population ofTobolsk (the capital ofSiberia Governorate from 1708), and some settled permanently. Saint Petersburg, founded in 1703 on the same site as the originally Swedish town ofNyen in the province of Ingermanland, was built to a great extent by Swedish prisoners of war under Russian direction.[7]
Estonia, under Swedish rule from 1558 to 1710, became a Russian territory in 1721. In 1780-1781 EmpressCatherine II of Russia forced or encouraged 1,200Estonian-Swedes from the island ofHiiumaa to move toNew Russia (present dayUkraine), where they formed their very own village (Gammalsvenskby in the area of present-dayKherson Oblast).
KingGustav III of Sweden initiated theRusso-Swedish War of 1788–1790 for domestic political reasons.
In the middle of theNapoleonic wars, 1803–1815, TsarAlexander I of Russia started awar against Sweden. The area included modern Sweden and Finland. Sweden relied on what it called 'The Gibraltar of the North'--the new fortifications at Sveaborg near modern-day Helsinki. It was prepared for heavy attacks and long sieges. Nevertheless, it surrendered to the Russians in a matter of weeks and 1808, due to the forceful demands of Russian GeneralJan Pieter van Suchtelen and the pusillanimous responses of Swedish Vice-AdmiralCarl Olof Cronstedt. After the war ended in 1809,Finland was handed over to Russia.Napoleon's invasion ofSwedish Pomerania in January 1812 led to a rapprochement between Sweden and Russia that included Russian recognition of Swedish rule over Norway. There never was another war between the two and Sweden lost its role as a major regional power.[8]
The Swedish diplomatRaoul Wallenberg between July and December 1944 issued protectivepassports and housed Jews, saving tens of thousands of Jewish lives in Hungary. In 1944 he was arrested in Hungary and imprisoned in Moscow where he is supposed to have died.[9][10] This occurred in the days of theSoviet Union, but the issue has later even been discussed between Russia and Sweden.
On 27 October 1981, the Soviet submarineS-363, of a design NATO designatedWhiskey class, ran aground in Swedish territorial waters nearKarlskrona. The stranded submarine was spotted in the early morning the following day by local fishermen, on the rocks in theBlekinge archipelago, resulting in an episode commonly labelled "Whiskey on the rocks". During the incident, Swedish naval forces took up positions on the edges of Swedish waters. It was later revealed that theSwedish PremierTorbjörn Fälldin had issued the Swedish navy orders to open fire, should approaching units of the Soviet Navy enter Swedish territorial waters. Swedish defence research also confirmed there could be nuclear weapons aboard the submarine. Over the years, there have been manysubmarine incidents where the Soviet Union has tried to collect military information from Sweden, including sightings of Soviet submarines along the Swedish coastline and espionage affairs.
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Relations between the two nations worsened after Moscow in 2009 rejected plans for a major EU-Russia summit inStockholm. Then-Russian presidentDmitry Medvedev believed that the summit should take place inBrussels because he believed it was a more neutral place for the summit.[11] Another source of tension in the Russo-Swedish relations is Russia's recognition of the two breakaway regions,Abkhazia andSouth Ossetia, which broke away fromGeorgia after theRusso-Georgian War. Sweden's then-foreign ministerCarl Bildt condemned Russia's actions, and compared it to that ofAdolf Hitler's pre-Second World War aggression.[12] Swedish politicianJan Björklund has also suggested that military units should be put onGotland in case of a war between Russia and Sweden.[13]
TheNord Stream 1 gas pipeline in theBaltic Sea from Russia toGermany was the topic of Swedish Defence Research Agency's Robert L. Larsson's 110-page study "Nord Stream, Sweden and Baltic Sea Security" (2007) that found a number of concerning aspects in the Nord Stream project.[14] The Swedish Defence Commission, however, did not mention any military implications of the pipeline in its December 2007 report on security issues and instead called for strict environmental requirements and cooperation between Baltic Sea states on surveillance.[15][16][17] The Swedish government gave its approval of the project in November 2009.[18]
Russian bombers have operated close to Swedish airspace on a number of occasions after the start of theRusso-Ukrainian war and this has caused a discussion in Sweden to scale up its defences which also happened in 2015 with acquisitions of more Gripen aircraft, submarines, anti aircraft missiles and deployment of troops to Gotland in the Baltic Sea.[19]
In March 2018, relations deteriorated further due to thepoisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal inSalisbury,United Kingdom. Upon the United Kingdom stating that Russia produced the agent used, Russia claimed that several countries including Sweden were producingNovichok, thenerve agent used in the Salisbury attack.[citation needed] The Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs,Margot Wallström, called the accusations 'unacceptable' on Twitter.[20] In response to the attack, Sweden expelled a Russian diplomat from Stockholm.[21] In response, Russia expelled a Swedish diplomat from Moscow.[22]
In May 2018 amid tensions with Russia, Sweden sent pamphlets to its households telling its citizens how to prepare in case of war, the first time Sweden had done so since the Cold War in the 1980s.[24][25] In October 2020, Sweden declared that military spending would increase by 40 percent in 5 years citing Russian activity in the Baltic Sea.[26]
In December 2021, Russia warned of "serious military and political consequences" in case of Sweden's NATO membership.[27] In February 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, they made the same threats towards Sweden and Finland.[28]
After the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine started, Sweden, as one of the EU countries, imposed sanctions on Russia, and Russia added all EU countries to the list of "unfriendly nations".[29] Sweden joined other countries in spring 2022 indeclaring a number of Russian diplomatspersona non grata. In 2023, it summoned Russia's ambassador to complain about a statement on the embassy's web site according to which joining NATO made the Nordic countries "a legitimate target for Russian retaliatory measures, including those of a military nature".[30] AYouGov poll showed that in February 2023, 63% of respondents in Sweden wanted to support Ukraine in a war with Russia until Russian troops leave alloccupied territories.[31] On 7 March 2024, Sweden officially joined NATO.[32]
In May 2024, NATO stated that Sweden had been one of several members targeted by Russian hybrid operations. TheSwedish Security Police started an investigation behind repeated railway derailments in northern Sweden, suspecting Russian sabotage. The Swedish Security Police also described Russia's increased aggression and risk taking in its activity relating to Sweden.[33][34][35]
In 2021 Sweden exported goods to the value of $2.65 billion to Russia with broadcasting equipment being the top goods. Russia exported $1.53 billion to Sweden with coal tar oil as the top product. Between 1995 and 2021 Swedish goods rose by an average of 5.69% p.a. whilst Russian exports rose by 4.88% p.a. on average.[36]
In August 2023 Sweden exports rose to over SEK 1 billion whilst imports fell to just SEK 24 million.[36]
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