Sweden alarmed with Russia's possibility to impact elections in this country - Swedish ambassador to Russia
ARKHANGELSK. March 30 (Interfax) - Stockholm has certain fears over Russia's possibility to influence the elections in this country, certain measures will be undertaken to remove vulnerable spots if necessary, Swedish Ambassador to Russia Peter Ericson said.
Ericson said in an interview with Interfax that these concerns have been based on their experience and inquiries, which have already been conducted. He said that one needed to think about it, and, if it has been necessary repair and take measures so that their elections would be held without any problems.
Commenting on Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's statements that Russia could impact the elections in the country, the ambassador said that these statements have been based, first, that it had been clear that Russia had somehow interfered in the U.S. elections. He said that, of course, this had not been officially acknowledged, but the American authorities had published reports, which demonstrated how this had happened. Swedish agencies have reported about this concern, he said.
The ambassador also said that there has been 18 months before the Swedish elections, so, what they could know. But, of course, the situation has been similar to Crimea, he said. Ericson said that people themselves have essentially been programming expectations of their partners. If this had been done once, this could recur in the future, he said. Ericson said that they should clearly think about it, consider as whether there had been some risks and vulnerable spots, whether it had been necessary to change or improve something so it would be impossible to impact the elections.
He said that, by the way, quite much has been reported about Russian efforts in the area of information war and disinformation aimed against Sweden. Ericson said that, in particular, there had been certain efforts that sought to impact the debates, which had aroused over an agreement between Sweden and NATO 1.5-2 years ago.
