Sweden is no longer designated as a terror target.
This according to the National Center for Terror Threat Assessment.
– What we are following now is whether this is something permanent, or whether it is about us being overshadowed by other problems, says NCT director Ahn-Zha Hagström to Today’s news.
Since August last year, the Swedish terror threat level has been at a four on a five-point scale.
The increase meant that the threat level went from “increased threat” to “high threat”, and was done, among other things, against the background of the Koran burnings.
But in the past six months, Sweden has not been singled out as much, states the National Center for Terrorism Assessment, whose director Ahn-Zha Hagström elaborates for Dagens Nyheter:
– Now Sweden is in NATO, and the elections that were supposed to take place in the countries that were most aggressive in terms of the image of Sweden have been carried out. Our assessment is that this is a very good example of terrorism taking place in a geopolitical context. At the same time, the world situation has changed since Hamas’ terrorist act in Israel on October 7 and Israel’s war against Hamas, says Hagström to the newspaper.
NCT manager Ahn-Zha Hagström.
NCT manager Ahn-Zha Hagström.
Photo: TT
Russian hybrid threats are fixed
Furthermore, the military threat to Sweden seems to have decreased after joining NATO.
However, the hybrid and non-linear threats from Russia remain.
– They are much more tangible. They have increased and our assessment is that they can continue to increase, says Thomas Nilsson, head of the Military Intelligence Service, to DN.
He says that it is in Russia’s interest to try to influence what role Sweden plays in NATO, and to try to divide it.
– Not least from the Russian side, you probably don’t want this united cohesion that you can see in the EU and NATO, says Thomas Nilsson.