Officials in Sweden have been ordered to ensure that they are ready for war as fears of a Russian invasion grow.
The country’s Civil Contingencies Agency has sent out a letter to all local authorities telling them they must be better equipped to respond to the threat of war.
It is believed the letter was prompted by Sweden returning to their old Cold War-era ‘Total Defence Strategy’.
The strategy places emphasis on defending the nation from overseas threats by taking economic and civilian precautions as well as military ones.
It was ordered to be implemented last December citing a deterioration in the ‘security situation’.
And according to Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, the letter sent out reads: ‘This places a high demand on… operational speed, decision making, information sharing, crisis communication, flexibility, robustness and handling secret information.’
But despite the instructions, the MSB’s information head Svante Werger said: ‘There is nothing to indicate that war is likely, but we have the government’s mandate to plan for it.’
However, there has been a backlash against the letter, with some local leaders saying the requirements placed on municipalities were unrealistic.
Meanwhile others have accused the Swedish government of using the excuse of Russian aggression to justify spending more on the country’s military.
The letter comes as officials on Gotland, Sweden’s militarily strategic island in the Baltic Sea, said they likely will turn down a…