COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden’s left-leaning government introduces a military draft for both men and women Thursday because of what its defense minister calls a deteriorating security environment in Europe and around Sweden.
Sweden abolished compulsory military service for men in 2010 because there were enough volunteers to meet its military needs. It has never had a military draft for women.
The government says “the all-volunteer recruitment hasn’t provided the Armed Forces with enough trained personnel. The re-activating of conscription is needed for military readiness.”
This is a Saturday Aug. 1, 2015 file photo of Swedish Army personnel as they take part in the annual Gay Pride Parade in Stockholm. (Vilhelm Stokstad/TT, File via AP)
In September, non-NATO-member Sweden stationed permanent troops on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland. Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist described the move as sending a signal after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and its “increasing pressure” on the neighboring Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
There have also been reports of airspace violations by Russia’s military aircraft in the Baltics and a military buildup in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which sits across the Baltic Sea from Sweden.
— AP
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