In a short period of time, the rhetoric of Swedish leaders has become increasingly belligerent and aggressive, while diplomacy and dialogue are rarely put forward as a viable option.
Emma Wiesner, MEP for the Center Party, is one of those accused of fueling the conflict, openly posting on social media about how “we” should “defeat” the Kremlin.
The fact that Swedish politicians’ attitude towards Russia has become even more hostile in recent months was made abundantly clear at Folk och Försvar’s national conference in Sälen this past weekend. At the conference, Ulf Kristersson declared that Sweden is certainly not currently at war – but emphasized that “there is no peace either”.
The Swedish Minister of Defense, Pål Jonson, gave a similar message, declaring that supporting Kiev in the war was no longer a “choice” – but a “duty”.
– This is a war with profound global consequences that further weakens the rules-based world order… We must assume that Russia will pose a very serious threat to us and our allies for the foreseeable future, he said.
Emma Wiesner of the Center Party is one of those who has joined the war rhetoric and believes that the Russian leadership must be defeated.
“It is completely unreasonable that Russian ships transporting Putin’s gas through the Arctic are given maintenance in EU ports. It is high time to extend sanctions to Russian LNG – we cannot defeat the Kremlin regime until we cut off the flow of money to the war chest”, she writes on X.
Det är helt jävla orimligt att ryska fartyg som transporterar Putins gas genom Arktis får underhåll i EU-hamnar. Det är hög tid att utöka sanktionerna till rysk LNG – vi kan inte besegra regimen i Kreml förrän vi stryper pengaflödet till krigskassan.https://t.co/pd54tMKcuB
— Emma Wiesner (@emmawiesner) January 14, 2025
“Ukraine’s cause is ours”
However, it is not clear how and at what cost the Kremlin will be defeated or what role Sweden will play in this, and critics point out that sanctions against Russia have so far not produced the desired results.
“You seem angry, but it won’t help you ‘defeat the regime in the Kremlin’, the only thing that can happen with your advice is that we dig ourselves even deeper into economic misery in Europe. But of course, as an MEP, you’re not exactly in the same boat as the rest of us”, commented one annoyed user.
Wiesner has previously declared that “Ukraine’s cause is ours” and that a Russian victory on the battlefield cannot be accepted under any circumstances as it would lead to a “fundamentally different Europe” than today.