Sweden does not rule out military attack from Russia

A Swedish parliament defence committee report said a Russian military attack against Sweden cannot be ruled out.

Reuters reported this with reference to the Swedish public broadcaster SVT, according to Ukrinform.

"Russia has also further lowered its threshold for the use of military force and exhibits a high political and military risk appetite. Russia's ability to carry out operations with air forces, naval forces, long-range weapons or nuclear weapons against Sweden remains intact," SVT said, citing the report.

The parliamentary report, due to be published on Monday, said that although Russian ground forces were tied up in Ukraine other types of military attacks against Sweden could not be ruled out, SVT said citing sources who worked on the report.

Read also: Sweden approves $24M support package to Ukraine

SVT said the report outlined out a new defence doctrine for Sweden, based on membership in NATO.

“Like most Western states Sweden scaled down its defence following the end of the Cold War but has ramped up defence spending and is due to meet NATO's threshold of 2% GDP in 2026.”

As reported, Sweden applied for NATO membership last year, but Turkey and Hungary have not yet ratified it.

The U.S. Senate has suspended arms sales to Hungary worth $735 million because of the country's refusal to approve Sweden's NATO membership.