In Sweden, conscription and a leaflet on how to prepare for war – just in case

When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and began acting aggressively toward its immediate neighbors, perhaps none of the countries in the Nordic and Baltic region was more taken aback than neutral, pacifistic Sweden.

After the end of the cold war, by 2004 Sweden had radically downsized its armed forces, adjusting their traditional territorial defense role in order to focus on select expeditionary missions. But “Russia’s provocative behavior towards Sweden and in the Baltic Sea ended the Swedish ‘strategic time-out’ in which the military’s role in society was hidden,” says Oscar Jonsson, the incoming director of Stockholm Free World Forum, a leading Swedish security think tank.

Since then, Sweden has worked to gear up its defense against Russia

Enough money or troops?   NATO, or notA soldier’s perspective