Nordisk Østforum (Apr 2018)

Sveriges relationer med Ryssland: kontinuitet och förändring historiskt och idag

  • Martin Kragh

DOI
https://doi.org/10.23865/noros.v32.1155
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 32, no. 0
pp. 54 – 74

Abstract

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Relations between Sweden and Russia have historically been characterized by continuity and stability, despite occasional periods of friction. On the one hand, Sweden and Russia have a more active bilateral agenda than what is usually recognized, primarily in the areas of trade, investments and cultural and educational exchanges. On the other hand, there are several issues – like the Ukraine conflict, the EU Eastern Partnership, Swedish NATO cooperation and the security situation in the Baltic Sea area – involving competing claims and interests between Sweden and Russia. Further, Swedish foreign policy since the 1990s has been framed within a multilateral context, and that has a bearing on Swedish–Russian relations as well. This situation is likely to continue, unless dramatic changes occur in the political relations between Russia and the Western powers.

Keywords