During the past week, there has been a lot of focus on the deteriorating security situation in Sweden, as well as the growing anger of the rest of the world against the Koran burnings in the country. Some believe that the threat to Sweden has never been stronger before, but that is something that the terrorism researcher Hans Brun does not agree with.
– It is unpleasant and dangerous, but it is far from the most dangerous Sweden that the nation has dealt with in modern times, he says in Nyhetsmorgon.
If you put the security policy situation in Sweden in a larger context, the country has faced much greater trials in the past, says Hans Brun, highlighting events such as the murder of Olof Palme and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
– Only during my time do I remember U 137, a Soviet submarine that violated Swedish waters with nuclear weapons, we had the murder of Olof Palme when during the first 24 hours it was not known what was behind the murder. We have also had the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and the Hungarian Crisis. We also lived through the entire Cold War, which was much trickier than this situation, he says.
The security situation “slightly worse than normal”
Since 2010, Sweden’s terror threat level has been at a third on a five-point scale, which Hans Brun thinks is a reasonable level.
– We have an elevated situation and we have had it for a long time, and now it is perhaps somewhat worse than normal.
At the same time, he emphasizes that the police have built a security system, and that they have been preparing for potential events for more than ten years.
– No one in the police and Säpo will be able to say ‘we didn’t see this coming’. On the contrary, you are very prepared. There is planning from the individual police out on the street up to the management and staff.
Russia’s invasion the biggest reason
Hans Brun also emphasizes that the changed security situation we are now in is largely due to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, rather than the growing anger against the Koran burnings in Sweden.
– The Koran burnings are only on the margins. The invasion of Ukraine is a much bigger security policy problem for Sweden than the terrorist threat is right now. It is a war that could very well spill over the Baltic Sea and could very well affect Sweden, the Baltics and Poland – and then we are talking about losses that terrorist groups and lone actors do not come close to.
At the same time, it is said that solo acting is the biggest threat right now?
– There is a difference between a lone actor who comes with a knife and facing the Russian army or the Russian air force in a full conflict. It is something completely different.