{"id":486,"date":"2025-09-24T07:24:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T05:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/?p=486"},"modified":"2025-09-24T07:24:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T05:24:19","slug":"sweden-plans-largest-military-buildup-since-the-cold-war-amid-russia-threat-and-uncertain-us-eu-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/?p=486","title":{"rendered":"Sweden plans largest military buildup since the Cold War amid Russia threat and uncertain US-EU ties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) \u2014 Sweden\u2019s prime minister said Wednesday his government aims to ramp up defense spending to a target of 3.5% of the Nordic country\u2019s gross domestic product, marking its largest military buildup since the Cold War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ulf Kristersson<\/a> said the figure was based on an assessment of a new political and security backdrop in Europe in light of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine three years ago and the prevailing \u201cuncertainty\u201d about the transatlantic relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more robust military ambitions come just over a year after Sweden formally joined the NATO alliance<\/a>, ending decades-long neutrality, largely out of concerns about an increasingly assertive Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kristersson laid out several pillars of the plan that include continued support for Ukraine, strengthening NATO and bolstering the European Union\u2019s ability to defend Europe. Sweden is among its 27 member countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur assessment is that NATO \u2014 and especially European NATO countries \u2014 need to make great strides in the coming years, and Sweden is pushing for these decisions to be confirmed at the NATO summit in The Hague in June,\u201d he told a news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal laid out by Kristersson\u2019s government and Social Democratic party marked \u201cour plan for the largest military buildup of defense since the Cold War in Sweden.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. President Donald Trump has long derided European countries in the Atlantic alliance for not devoting enough spending to defense, and his administration has been increasingly critical of many of America\u2019s longtime allies in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European leaders have taken steps to take security matters<\/a> more into their own hands through increased spending, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has called for member countries to spend 3% of their GDP on defense \u2014 up from the longtime target of at least 2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A record 23 countries<\/a> were expected to reach that spending target last year, up from only three a decade ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kristersson said Sweden was already at 2.4% and has already begun work to reach 2.6%, \u201cbut it\u2019s not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced plans to increase defense spending to 3.5% of GDP, the largest military buildup since the Cold War. This decision follows Sweden’s NATO membership and concerns over Russia. The plan aims to enhance support for Ukraine, strengthen NATO, and improve EU defense capabilities ahead of the June summit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}