Government of Sweden

SIDA (Swedish Agency for Development and Cooperation)

• SIDA (Swedish Agency for Development and Cooperation) - promoting Sweden's interests abroad

History

2024: Plan to supply two surveillance aircraft, missiles, ammunition and APCs from Sweden worth $1.3 billion

On May 29, 2024, it became known that Sweden would provide two Saab ASC 890 surveillance aircraft to Ukraine as part of the largest military aid package from the Scandinavian country by this time.

The package also included anti-aircraft missiles, ammunition, Pansarbandvagn tracked armored personnel carriers.

The aid is estimated at 13.3 billion kronor ($1.3 billion). Planes with Erieye radars, which can be used to detect drones, missiles and aircraft, as well as naval targets, will be deployed along with F-16 fighters donated by Europe.

The effective range of the onboard radar reaches 400 km, but under some conditions it may exceed this number, which will significantly simplify the detection of missiles, drones, and aviation of the Russian Armed Forces in the border zone.

It is not yet known how many copies the Swedes will transfer and when, given that the Swedish Air Force has two sides in total, they are replaced by the latest AWACS aircraft of the GlobalEye system.

At the same time, the training period is even longer than on fighters due to the difficulty in deploying airborne equipment. So either the transfer will take place much later, or the crews have been training for a long time. Or they will be replaced by Swedish pilots under the legend of mercenaries.

The Saab 340B radar operates in two 120-degree sectors, and its blind spots are its tail and nose. But even at the same time, one such aircraft can block an entire direction, being at a distance from the front line.

2022

Kristersson Ulf elected as Sweden's new prime minister

On Oct. 17, 2022, parliament Sweden elected a Conservative leader as prime minister at the head Ulf Kristersson of a center-right coalition that promised to fight crime and cut immigration in partnership with a populist party with far-right roots. More. here

Supply of weapons to Ukraine during a special operation of Russia

In early May 2022, the Rybar telegram channel published documents confirming the transfer by the Kingdom of Sweden of offensive weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. According to the documents, on March 24, 2022, the Riksdag (Swedish parliament) approved the provision of demining equipment and anti-tank weapons to Ukraine at a total cost of 205 million Swedish crowns.

The Swedish side persistently asks not to publish the information indicated in declaration number 2. Namely, about ammunition 7.62/95 PRJ, in the amount of 3,000,000 pieces and 7.62/95 SLPRJ in the amount of 470,000 pieces.

Documents on the transfer of weapons signed by the Ambassador of Ukraine to Sweden Andriy Plahotniuc were sent to Kyiv to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, and a copy to the Office of the President. At the same time, Plahotniuc asks to take into account that the Swedish side persistently asks not to publish information about the cartridges.

Aid from Ukraine's donor countries to their GDP between February 24 and March 27, 2022

2021: Swedish Prime Minister becomes woman for first time: Magdalena Andersson wins thanks to Kurdish support

On November 24, 2021, Magdalena Andersson was approved as Prime Minister of Sweden. However, seven hours later, she was forced to leave: the government coalition of the Social Democrats and the Green Party, which supported her, collapsed due to the vote on the country's budget for 2022, which meant the automatic resignation of the Cabinet.

A few days later, 101 deputies voted for Andersson's candidacy - the Social Democrats and their partners: the Greens, the left and the centrists. 173 people (Liberals, Moderates, Christian Democrats and Nationalists from the Sweden Democrats) voted "no." 75 people abstained, however, according to Swedish laws, Andersson's candidacy was approved, since less than half of the members of parliament clearly voted against it.

Magdalena Andersson became the first woman to hold the post in the country's history. She led a government consisting of only one Social Democratic party. The official change of power took place on November 30, 2021, when the government of the previous prime minister Stefan Löfven resigned.

Andersson's complicated approval scheme would not have been possible without just one member of parliament - Kurdish Amina Kakabave. The non-partisan MP in the vote supported the Social Democrat party in exchange for a commitment to deepen cooperation with the Democratic Union (PYD) party. These agreements were reflected in the# 0 official document, signed by Kakabave herself and Tobias Boden, secretary of the Social Democrats party.

Andersson's party pledged to work with the PYD, justifying it with support for self-government in northeast Syria "in the interests of democracy and respect for human rights." Moreover, the main fighters against IS in the document are the People's Self-Defense Units, which, of course, is perceived by Turkish President Erdogan as a slap in the face. Further in the text: "It is unacceptable that freedom fighters who fought or sympathised with the YPG or PYD are classified as terrorists by some state actors." Such a hint of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which the Swedes, as members of the EU, cannot but recognize as a terrorist organization.

Later, in May 2022, Sweden decided to join NATO, but faced opposition from Turkey, which is well aware of the country's support for the Kurds. Kakabave fears that Sweden will yield to Erdogan's demands, which will ultimately make things worse for the Kurds. She even said that she was refusing further cooperation with the Social Democrats due to the party's violation of the agreements.

Sweden is one of the most advanced countries in the world in terms of gender equality, and the government of Magdalena Andersson's predecessor Stefan Levene was directly called "feminist" both for successes in the field of women's equality and for a high percentage of women parliamentarians.^[1]

Notes