Nuclear weapons could be allowed on Swedish soil in wartime, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said as he faced calls from critics to ban their presence.
The US could be given access to military bases in Sweden and be allowed to store military equipment and weapons in the Scandinavian country, with the Swedish Parliament set to vote on a Defence Co-operation Agreement in July.
Sweden joined Nato in March, abandoning two centuries of military non-alignment.
Calls have increased in recent weeks, from the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Association among others, for the government to put in writing in the agreement that Sweden will not allow nuclear weapons on its soil.
Stockholm has repeatedly insisted there is no need to have a ban spelt out, citing “broad consensus on nuclear weapons” in Sweden as well as a parliamentary decision that bars nuclear weapons in the country in peacetime.
But Mr Kristersson on Monday said wartime was a different story.
“In a war situation it's a completely different matter, [it] would depend entirely on what would happen,” he told public broadcaster Swedish Radio.
“In the absolute worst-case scenario, the democratic countries in our part of the world must ultimately be able to defend themselves against countries that could threaten us with nuclear weapons.”
Nato through the years – in pictures
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British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin signs the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington on April 4, 1949. All photos: Getty -
The North Atlantic Treaty showing the signatures of the foreign secretaries and ambassadors of the original signing nations - Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the US -
A meeting of the North Atlantic Council deputies in 1951 in London, attended by Gen Dwight D Eisenhower, centre -
Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, Secretary General of Nato, with the newly adopted Nato emblem in 1952 -
Belgian Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak holds a press conference in Paris after taking over from Hastings Ismay as Nato chief in 1956 -
The opening speech at the Nato summit in Paris in 1957 -
Some of the Nato vessels gathered for Exercise Medflex Invicta in Malta in 1961 -
A McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter-bomber of the Royal Navy is launched from HMS Ark Royal during a Nato exercise in 1972 -
German Nato troops on manoeuvres in 1980 -
Lord Carrington, the new Secretary General of Nato, sits behind his desk in Brussels, Belgium, in 1984 -
A US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle refuels in the skies over Macedonia in 1999, as it flies missions in support of Nato Operation Allied Force -
Frigates, part of the Nato permanent fleet based in the Mediterranean Sea, enter the port of Piraeus, Greece, in 2003 -
US President George W Bush, US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, ambassador R Nicholas Burns and US Secretary of State Colin Powell attend the Nato summit in 2004 in Istanbul, Turkey -
Members of the military attend a commemoration for Nato soldiers during the 2009 summit in Kehl, Germany -
A protester throws a stone during clashes at the Nato summit in 2009 in Strasbourg, France -
A Polish soldier sits in a tank as a Nato flag flies behind during military exercises in Zagan, Poland, in 2015 -
Guests depart after attending the opening ceremony at the 2018 Nato summit in Brussels -
Nato leaders listen to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson while attending the summit in 2019 in Watford, England -
Soldiers from the Royal Welsh Battlegroup take part in manoeuvres during a Nato exercise on the Estonian-Latvian border in 2022 in Voru, Estonia -
Secretary General of Nato Jens Stoltenberg meets troops at the Tapa Army Base in 2022 in Tallinn, Estonia -
Polish soldiers hold a Nato flag in 2022 at a training ground in Orzysz, Poland -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Mr Stoltenberg attend a joint press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, in April 2023
He insisted any such decision to place nuclear weapons in Sweden would be taken by Sweden, not the US.
“Sweden decides over Swedish territory,” he said.
But, he stressed, “the whole purpose of our Nato membership and our defence is to ensure that that situation does not arise”.
If Ukraine had been a Nato member, “it would not have been attacked by Russia”, he said.
The Social Democratic Party, which was in power when Sweden submitted its Nato membership application in May 2022, said at the time it would work to express “unilateral reservations against the deployment of nuclear weapons and permanent bases on Swedish territory”.
Nordic neighbours Denmark and Norway, which are already Nato members, have both refused to allow foreign countries to establish permanent military bases or nuclear weapons on their soil in peacetime.
