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Swedish defense officials’ warning to brace for war as the nation nears NATO membership has prompted some panic and caused supplies to fly off shelves, according to reports.
“For a nation for whom peace has been a pleasant companion for almost 210 years, the idea that it is an immoveable constant is conveniently close at hand,” Swedish Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said at Folk och Försvars, or “Society and Defense,” annual national conference in Sälen on Sunday.
“But taking comfort in this conclusion has become more dangerous than it has been for a very long time,” he said, according to a government transcript. “Many have said it before me, but let me do so in an official capacity, more plainly and with naked clarity: There could be war in Sweden.”
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The commander in chief of the Swedish armed forces, General Micael Byden, who visited the eastern front of Ukraine in December, also spoke to the conference on Sunday, warning all Swedes to prepare mentally for the possibility of war as their nation is just two steps short of NATO membership.