Everyone must prepare mentally for the possibility of war. The message from Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M) and Commander-in-Chief Micael Bydén at the People and Defense Conference in Sälen has received a lot of attention.
– Many have said it before me, but let me do it with the power of office – there could be war in Sweden, said Bohlin.
It is simply the end of convenience as we know it, said Bydén.
High pressure
That the statements have been heard by the population is felt by the crisis authority Myndigeten för sommässkydd og bervæð (MSB), where the pressure has been high in recent days.
– When something happens in the world around us, a crisis, disturbance or a sharp outcome, it reminds us people to start thinking about our own preparedness, says press officer Anna Wennerström.
We notice it through calls, emails and on the statistics on our website. You are interested in your own preparedness, the brochure “If the crisis or the war comes”, shelters and our shelter map.
“Many are worried”
On a normal day, the site has 15,000 visits, but on Monday and Tuesday the number landed at 240,000. The crisis brochure was downloaded 25,000 times in two days, compared to 50-60 times on a normal day.
– Many private individuals are worried and wonder how to interpret the rhetoric. It is important to remember that there has just been a conference on security policy, so it is not strange that people are starting to talk about these issues now, says Wennerström.
Magnus Christiansson, war scientist at the Norwegian Defense Academy, has explained the outcome at the People and Defense conference by saying that the government wants to tell the Swedish people why it invests so much money in defense.
– It is a way to lay the groundwork for political and economic priorities to be set here and to explain why they are being made, Christiansson told TT on Tuesday.