The government said the plan would focus on strengthening the city’s emergency services’ ability to respond during an emergency or before a potential attack.
The Swedish government says it is taking steps to reintroduce military service to the emergency services in the Nordic country’s latest move to bolster its defenses since Russia invaded. Ukraine.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday that the civil service would begin preparations for the move this week.
“We’re getting back to a situation where we have a formalized civil obligation,” Kristersson said at a news conference alongside Defense Secretary Pal Jonson and Civil Defense Secretary Carl-Oskar Bohlin.
Bohlin said the plan would focus on deploying properly trained civilians in the city’s rescue services and bolstering their ability to respond in an emergency or before any emergency. any potential attack.
He said the government is engaged in “broader work” regarding the possible re-introduction of the civil service regime – which, in effect, is equivalent to military service – in other parts of the country’s civil defense infrastructure.
“The experience from Ukraine is clear – when it comes to protecting civilians, rescue services are under very heavy pressure,” Bohlin said.
It was not immediately clear how many civilians would participate, but local media reported that as many as 3,000 could be summoned as part of the first phase of the plan, which has echoes of the previous plans. Sweden’s Cold War defense plan.
NATO bid hosted by Turkey
Sweden, which is concerned about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, also plans to increase military spending to 2% of gross domestic product and double the number of conscripts to 10,000 by 2030, according to the report. by Bloomberg News.
The government said on Monday that it was also conducting talks with the United States on increasing defense cooperation as Turkey block NATO membership.
Sweden’s defense ministry said it was negotiating an agreement to “closer cooperation with the United States both bilaterally and within the framework of NATO”.
Their defense cooperation agreement will cover “the legal status of US troops in Sweden, storage of defense materials and investments in critical infrastructure for Sweden as the host country.” home can provide support,” Jonson told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
Sweden and Finland broke decades of neutrality and applied to join NATO last year in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Turkey has refused to approve their application, citing security concerns. Hungary has not yet approved their membership.
Joining the military alliance requires the unanimous approval of all 30 member states. Before launching the invasion in late February, Russia insisted on assurances from the West that Ukraine would never join NATO.
