The Swedish Security Service (Sapo) said Monday it had thwarted a Russian intelligence operation aimed at discrediting Sweden which involved an "agent" working in a foreign diplomatic mission in the country.
The counter-espionage agency said in a statement it had "gathered information on, and taken measures against, a Russian intelligence operation aiming at influencing Swedish decision-making and discrediting Sweden, NATO and the EU".
According to Sapo, the "intelligence operation has been planned and directed by the Russian foreign intelligence service SVR for some time".
Christoffer Wedelin, Sapo's deputy head of operations, told AFP that the operation had been carried out by Russian intelligence agents operating under "diplomatic immunity", who in turn had recruited another "agent" working at a different country's diplomatic mission.
Sapo did not identify the diplomatic mission where the agent allegedly involved worked.
"In meetings with the agent, the Russian intelligence officers... tasked the agent with obtaining information in various ways," Wedelin said.
According to Wedelin, "the objectives have been to create division" within Sweden, as well as among EU and NATO allies.
Wedelin said the information concerned Swedish decision-making, but declined to give a more specific account of what information had been gathered or how long the operation had been going on.
"Our assessment is that we have disrupted and prevented the activity," Wedelin said, adding that both the Russian intelligence agents and the other agent were no longer in Sweden.
Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said that the government took the reports "seriously".
"This is part of a pattern where Russia, and other state actors, act offensively to further their interests in Sweden," Strommer told reporters.
In 2024, Sweden ended two centuries of military non-alignment and joined NATO, spurred into the alliance by Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Sapo has repeatedly pointed to Russia, along with China and Iran, as the main intelligence threats to the country.
