Explosive mail item

Swedes and Finns are being prepared for war

Sweden's Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin with a copy of "When War Comes"

(Bild: APA/AP)

Swedish households are currently receiving a small handbook entitled "When war comes". The information it contains is intended to prepare the population for disaster scenarios such as blackouts, extreme weather events and the effects of armed conflicts.

The brochure is the fifth edition of a handbook from the Ministry of Civil Defense, which was first published during the Second World War. Now there is a "greater focus on preparing for war", according to the civil defense authority MSB, which is responsible for developing the information material.

"If we are attacked, ..."
"The state of the world has increasingly deteriorated in recent years. A war is being waged near us. Extreme weather events are becoming the norm. Terror threats, cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns are being used to undermine and influence us (...) When we are under attack, everyone must help defend Sweden's independence and our democracy," reads the MSB website.

In addition to a list of essential food, hygiene items and medicines to have in stock at home, the civilian population is given tips on how best to carry out an evacuation, stop bleeding, combat fear, prepare pets and children and support the elderly and vulnerable.

Swedish soldiers during a NATO exercise in the Swedish-Finnish border area

(Bild: APA/AFP/Jonathan NACKSTRAND)

Ukraine war drove Sweden and Finland into NATO
The handbook is to be delivered to five million households in Sweden over the next two weeks. The Finnish Ministry of the Interior also published an online guide on how to prepare for "crises and emergencies" on Monday. Norway and Denmark had already published similar guides a few months ago.

In the wake of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Sweden and Finland broke with their decades-long tradition of military non-alignment and applied to join NATO in May 2022. While Finland, which has a land border of around 1,300 kilometers with Russia, was admitted to the alliance in April last year, Sweden was admitted in March this year. Russia immediately threatened "countermeasures of a political and military-technical nature", especially in the event that troops and weapons from the military alliance were transferred to the country. However, Moscow did not specify what these measures would look like.