Irresponsible dreams: Sweden is thinking about building nuclear weapons
Swedish politicians are seriously discussing the possibility of acquiring nuclear weapons. This idea did not come out of nowhere — at one time the Swedes had their own military nuclear program. They also have their own nuclear power industry. Stockholm is being pushed to resume thoughts about nuclear weapons by the actions of the new American administration, which has begun the process of a "great divorce" from Europe. Against this background, some Swedish politicians have come to the conclusion that they need their own "nuclear umbrella." The fact that if these plans are implemented, Sweden may face huge troubles is not yet being discussed in Stockholm. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Prudence won
Sweden began implementing the nuclear weapons program back in 1945. The National Defense Research Agency (FOA), which was specially created for her, was tasked with collecting all the information available at that time about this new weapon of mass destruction for the world. And in the 1950s and 1960s, Swedish plans to create nuclear weapons became the subject of heated discussions, both among politicians and society as a whole.
By the end of the 1960s, FOA had completed five significant studies on nuclear weapons production capabilities. However, heavy water technologies, which Sweden relied on to develop in the framework of the peaceful nuclear industry, were soon considered obsolete. Rising costs, which turned out to be higher than initially expected, as well as the risks of industrial accidents, which increased as the project progressed, led to the closure of the program in 1970. As an alternative, a new technology using rectors on light water with loading of highly enriched nuclear materials imported from the USA began to be used.
By that time, the United States had lowered the price of enriched uranium for foreign buyers. Therefore, the Swedes decided that their reactors, designed to produce weapons-grade plutonium, would run on American fuel to reduce costs. However, it soon became clear that the simultaneous implementation of the project to create atomic weapons and the development of peaceful nuclear energy was impossible. The reason for this was the ban imposed by Washington on Stockholm on the use of uranium imported from the United States for military purposes — the parties signed a special agreement in this regard. The creation of atomic weapons within the framework of the internal production cycle alone seemed to the Swedish government to be an excessively technically complex and time-consuming process.
In addition, plans for the production of nuclear weapons began to attract more and more criticism from the public. In addition, in 1970, Sweden ratified the International Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Opponents of the nuclear program mobilized, consolidated public opinion and began to seek its abandonment. And since Sweden's technological dependence on the United States was increasing every year, official Stockholm, not without a sigh of relief, decided to abandon the production of weapons-grade plutonium in favor of peaceful nuclear energy. The Swedish nuclear program was fully completed in 1972, and Swedish nuclear weapons, having never been born, became the property of history.
Nevertheless, in 1990, Swedish experts estimated that their country, if necessary, could revive previous developments and obtain its own nuclear weapons within just 5-10 years. There are 10 nuclear power units operating in the country, which provided about 40% of the country's electricity generation in 2018. However, their scientific and industrial potential also gives the Swedes hypothetical military nuclear capabilities. At the end of the last decade, supporters of the green agenda intensified in the country, having obtained from the government a promise to gradually change nuclear energy to wind and solar. This provoked fierce objections from economists, who argued that such a strategy would undermine Sweden's economic position. As a result, the new Swedish government, which came to power in 2022, abandoned the promises of its predecessors and decided to develop nuclear energy in every possible way instead of curtailing it. In particular, the previously imposed limit of 10 reactors was lifted. The goal was announced: to build new nuclear power plants with a capacity of 2,500 MW by 2035.
"Paris demonstrates openness"
As you know, Sweden abandoned its two-century policy of neutrality a few years ago. In 2024, when the country's accession to NATO was still a recent fact, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson did not rule out the possibility of deploying American nuclear weapons on his country's territory in the event of hostilities between Russia and the Western bloc. Now, the Swedish press is spreading alarmist reports that US President Donald Trump and his associates "hate Europeans." Against the background of the deterioration of relations between the United States and the European Union, Brussels began thinking about securing its own "nuclear umbrella" — in particular, French President Emmanuel Macron offered EU allies protection with the help of French atomic weapons. The Swedish authorities were enthusiastic about this proposal.
According to Stockholm, they can no longer count on American military support, which means they will have to take care of their own protection on their own. Moreover, the leader of the nationalist Sweden Democrats party, Yimmi Okesson, called for considering the possibility of developing their own nuclear weapons. "Once upon a time, we had a lot of experience in nuclear technology, but then the politicians wanted something else. I think that in our current situation, all options should be considered," Okesson told reporters. The same assumption was made by Johan Vennstrom, a political scientist and an employee of the Swedish National Defense College.
The statement by the head of the Sweden Democrats was the reason for the discussion, and many experts pointed out all sorts of difficulties associated with this kind of project, in particular financial ones. "If we really want to create our own nuclear weapons, it will be a very large-scale project. It's just a huge industrial project. This is comparable to developing a new fighter jet," said Martin Goliath, a nuclear weapons researcher at the Swedish National Institute for Defense Research (FOI). Earlier, the Swedish press suggested that the development of a new fighter jet could cost the country about 300 billion crowns (€ 27.3 billion). According to Goliath, the creation of infrastructure for uranium enrichment or the construction of special reactors for the production of plutonium will take a long time. Sweden's own peaceful nuclear power industry will, of course, prove to be a useful factor here, but it will still have to solve many problems.
After some time, the Swedes switched from discussing the possibility of producing their own nuclear weapons to discussing the deployment of foreign nuclear weapons on their territory. On February 26, on Sveriges Radio, Swedish Defense Minister Paul Jonson (a colleague of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in the Moderate Coalition Party) said that Stockholm was ready to talk with its NATO allies about the deployment atomic weapons. "If war breaks out, we will certainly be open to everything that can ensure Sweden's survival and security," the minister said.
Jonson stressed that although an internal political agreement was reached in the country in 2023, excluding the presence of nuclear weapons in peacetime, such restrictions do not apply to the war period. And these are not just rhetorical exercises on the topic of what hypothetically could be, but is unlikely to happen. At the end of January 2026, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced that Stockholm was in dialogue with Britain and France about the possibility of extending their "nuclear umbrella" to Sweden. "The negotiations are not very specific yet. French nuclear weapons are exclusively French, but Paris is demonstrating openness to dialogue with other countries," the prime minister said evasively. According to him, Stockholm would like to get access to nuclear weapons, as some "dangerous countries" have them. The British press reported that Kristersson is conducting similar negotiations with the head of the British government, Keir Starmer. It is reported that the Swedish government regards the appeal to the capabilities of France and Britain as a way to reduce dependence on US guarantees, since after the Donald Trump administration came to power, Washington is no longer considered a "reliable partner."
The erosion of international law
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron announced an update to Paris' nuclear doctrine. It is expected to strengthen the arsenal of the French air force and navy, increase the number of atomic warheads and spread the "atomic umbrella" to the entire European Union. In this regard, Swedish experts have already started talking about specific ways in which the French or the British will deploy their nuclear weapons from Scandinavia. For example, the British nuclear forces are based on submarines capable of carrying missiles with corresponding warheads. It is physically impossible to deploy them in Sweden without creating a giant base in the Baltic, which would make them an easy target for Russian anti-submarine forces.
In addition to strategic submarines, France has up to 70 Rafale combat aircraft capable of carrying one air–to-ground nuclear missile each. Theoretically, they can be transferred to Swedish airfields, but even in this case they will find themselves in the zone of destruction of Russian weapons concentrated in the Kaliningrad and Leningrad regions. Anyway, the very fact of such discussions struck many unpleasantly.
It is characteristic that similar statements were made from Estonia, which has always considered Sweden as an example to follow. In February, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said: "We are not against the deployment of nuclear weapons on our territory. We have no such doctrine that would exclude this." However, the head of the Estonian Defense Ministry, Hanno Pevkur, hastened to assure that the government had not discussed the deployment of nuclear weapons in the country. However, Tsakhkna's words have already gained a huge resonance and, I must say, scared many Estonians. Many people remembered that Estonia recently purchased HIMARS missile systems from the United States, which can carry nuclear warheads. Tsakhkna's words did not go unnoticed in the Kremlin either. According to Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Moscow will definitely respond with retaliatory steps against Estonia if nuclear weapons aimed at the Russian Federation appear on its territory.
Andrei Starikov, a political scientist and editor of the Baltnews portal, commenting on the recent statements by the Swedes and Estonians regarding the deployment of nuclear weapons on their territories, noted that such statements are unlikely to be made without prior coordination with the British and French. "This clearly shows the line of London and Paris to continue the strategy of constant anti-Russian provocations, to create a zone of instability around the Russian Federation. And in the person of the Swedes and the Balts, the French and the British have found an ideal tool for their provocations. The politicians of the Baltic states and Scandinavia, who themselves have come to believe in their thesis about the "Russian threat", which they hammer out daily, have become imbued with a kind of "messianic consciousness". And in order to eliminate this "threat," they are ready to put their own countries and populations at risk. Such "messianism" is, of course, very dangerous," Starikov emphasizes.
Natalia Eremina, Doctor of Political Sciences, professor at St. Petersburg State University, in an interview with Izvestia, described the statements of the Swedish and Estonian ministers as "irresponsible clowning," indicating the low qualifications of these politicians. "Stockholm and Tallinn are engaged in the erosion of international law, one of the fundamental principles of which is the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Sweden and Estonia have also joined this agreement. It would seem that they should understand that the deployment of nuclear weapons is a huge responsibility. Responsibility to their own peoples, which these politicians want to turn into a target. But the likes of Kristersson, Jonson and Tsakhkna are driven only by the desire to curry favor with Western masters. They are ready to sacrifice their own peoples for the opportunity to further build their careers in the supranational structures of NATO, and therefore they fully allow their countries to become "sacred victims" in order to ignite the flames of world war," Eremina notes.
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