Swedish government launches first Patriot mission to Poland

STOCKHOLM — Against a backdrop of political controversy over Sweden’s approach to the nations on NATO’s eastern flank, Stockholm this week announced it will be sending Patriot batteries to Poland, the first time it has deployed the high-end air defenses as part of a NATO mission. 

About 100 personnel from the Swedish Air Defense Regiment (Lv 6) in Halmstad will protect NATO’s logistics hub in southeastern Poland, outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at a press briefing at the government headquarters on Tuesday. Saab Gripen fighters from the Blekinge Air Wing (F 17) are already flying over Poland this month to protect the same hub.

“All of this strengthens NATO, it strengthens Europe, and it strengthens Sweden,” said Kristersson.

The hub near the Ukrainian border is the main transit point for military and civilian aid to Ukraine under NATO’s Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU). The Swedish unit will operate under NATO Air Command and contribute to NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD). 

Sweden is taking over the rotational role from the Netherlands, which has Patriot batteries there. The mandate runs from December with plans to continue into the first half of 2027, Defense Minister Pål Jonson said.

“We will also gain important operational and strategic experience with a very close ally, as Poland is. These are rotational deployments to which we are now contributing in solidarity,” Jonson said.

Jonson stressed that the security situation in Sweden’s immediate neighborhood “is very serious,” citing intensified hybrid operations against Europe. “Moscow’s purpose is clear,” he said. “It is about trying to undermine support for Ukraine. It is about trying to intimidate our societies and create division and fear. Russia will not succeed in that.”

He concluded that Sweden “must prepare for a deteriorated security situation in the neighborhood for a prolonged period,” and pointed to several recent cases. Alongside the incident at Germany’s Leipzig Airport in August, the Estonian recently security service claimed that Russian intelligence services were behind the August attack on the defense company Milrem in Tallinn.

In Sweden, the current cabinet is a caretaker government after September’s parliamentary election, in which the red-green-center bloc won by a narrow margin. However, no government has been formed, and it is unclear when the parties will cohere around a new leader.

As a result, Kristersson, who has been prime minister since October 2022 with the conservative Moderate Party, is acting as a caretaker at a time when the security situation is shaky. 

“Almost every day something happens that affects security in Sweden and Europe. We are monitoring it constantly. We are on our toes. Our authorities are on their toes,” he said.

The caretaker government is, as he noted, quite limited when it comes to new domestic-policy initiatives. However, Kristersson said, it “is not limited when it comes to protecting Sweden — that is, Swedish interests, Sweden’s security, and the security of Swedes in Sweden or abroad. That is also important to say.”

Foreign Minister Questions PM Candidate Andersson

Underlining Kristersson’s point that the security situation does not pause while Sweden works out its politics, an internal row broke out this week between the rival parties.

Social Democratic leader and prime-ministerial candidate Magdalena Andersson told Politico on election day that the outgoing government had focused too narrowly on the Baltic region and ignored “the global south,” seemingly an indication that should Andersson manage to form a government, Sweden’s focus on NATO’s eastern flank could change.

Andersson is in a second round of talks after the Speaker of the Riksdag again tasked her with forming a government that parliament can tolerate. She first received the mandate, returned it, and has now been given it again.

Politico’s story was later updated to say that Andersson’s office clarified she was not criticizing efforts to strengthen work in the Baltic region, but opponents, including the caretaker government, have tried to jump on her comments as a sign that a Social Democrat-led coalition will be less committed to defending NATO’s eastern flank.

On the sideline of Tuesday’s briefing, outgoing Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard painted Andersson’s comments in a negative light, saying “I actually think it gives the impression that one does not really have a grasp of the situation, and that is very concerning because she [Andersson] aspires to become prime minister in a historically difficult period for security policy.”

Malmer Stenergard added that “I want a prime minister who is comfortable with the security issues,” and ” who does not make sweeping statements about nuclear weapons without actually having grounds for them, and “who truly prioritizes security in the immediate neighborhood, because that is how we build security for Sweden.”

The day after Malmer’s Stenergard’s comments, Andersson posted on X, saying, “A government I lead will be a strong, reliable and active ally in NATO. In turbulent times, we are stronger together.”