Russia should be judged by its action, not statements: Sweden Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard

First of all, Russia is easily provoked. Every country has its right to decide on its own security decisions, and with Sweden and Finland in NATO, Sweden is safer, but NATO is also stronger.

NATO is seen as an offensive alliance by Moscow. Is that a correct perception?

NATO was created to prevent war. It’s a peace project to prevent a repeat of World War II. Since its creation, no NATO ally has been attacked, and NATO has never attacked Russia. Russia has attacked Ukraine, and that is the truth…

US President Donald Trump has signalled that he wants to withdraw from the transatlantic alliance… 

I think you have to listen to what he actually says and what he does. So he sounds a lot more different than Europe is used to with American administrations. I am convinced their approach will be and is more transactional, also than what we are used to.

But I don’t see it as them not investing in transatlantic relations, and I definitely do not see them questioning NATO or their part in NATO. What they have done is criticise European allies for not investing enough in their own security, and I think that’s a legitimate criticism.

We (Sweden) have doubled our investment in military spending in four years, and a lot of European countries are now doing the same. And I think this is the right thing to do, and I think that this administration and many other American administrations have been right in their criticism. So this is a good thing that also strengthens NATO. I have never heard this new administration questioning NATO or Article Five. On the contrary, US Defence Secretary (Pete Hegseth) has said that he wants to strengthen NATO…

The Russia-Ukraine war has been going on for three years. President Trump would like a quicker end to the war. Ukraine is asking for a just and lasting peace. How does one square these two?

I think everyone wants peace in Ukraine, but it has to be a just and long-lasting peace. That’s why we continue to support and increase our support to Ukraine. They have to be able to negotiate from strength and have to be able to say no to a bad deal. I know that Ukraine also perceives the discussions in Jeddah as something positive now, putting pressure on Russia. It will be very interesting to see whether Russia is actually interested in a ceasefire or not. I think they are not, but we need to keep the pressure high on Russia. We need to increase the sanctions, we need to lower the oil price cap to hurt their war economy. And so I think this is also the best way to have both quicker and a fair and just peace.

Hegseth has said that Ukraine’s NATO membership is unrealistic. What’s your opinion?

During two summits — in Vilnius and Washington DC — the NATO has concluded that Ukraine’s future is in NATO, and I still believe so. It’s not realistic that they would be members in a very short period of time, but it’s definitely our goal. We will try to help Ukraine join NATO as soon as possible, the same way we are supporting Ukraine to make it possible for them to join the EU.

How did you view the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy?

I was very sorry to see it was not as constructive as we would have hoped for. This is a critical time in the world, so it is important to have constructive meetings… That was not the case at the Oval Office. At the same time, I now see they had a good meeting in Jeddah that led to this proposal of ceasefire which has now put pressure on Russia… I think it is very good for Europe, and for the future of Ukraine as well.

How do you view the Trump-Putin phone call on Tuesday?

We have taken note of the conversation. I met Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha in Delhi to discuss the path forward. The situation is evolving every day, but two things are clear. First, no one wants peace more than the Ukrainians and they have shown this by accepting the US proposal of an interim 30-day ceasefire. Second, Russia should be judged by its actions, not its statements. Any peace must be just and lasting, and Sweden will support all efforts to achieve this.

India wants Russia and Ukraine to come to the negotiating table. PM Narendra Modi has said that in his latest interview. How do you see India’s role in the current conflict?

I believe many countries, including India, want the war to end as soon as possible, and try to find ways to make that happen. I am convinced that India also wants to be a constructive partner in these discussions. India believes in a rules-based world order and will see the situation where Ukraine was unlawfully attacked by Russia… it is of utmost importance that we don’t set a new standard — saying you can actually gain from invading a peaceful, friendly neighbour, because that would provide for countries like Russia to do the same again.

How do you see China’s presence and its behaviour in the region, especially in the Indo-Pacific?

The rules-based world order is contested in many places in the world… Not only in the Baltic Sea, but also in the South China Sea. And we see that security is closely interlinked, and so decent democracies like Sweden and India need to cooperate even closer, also on security issues. And we see China pushing the limits of the law of the seas, or even contesting it, in the South China Sea. And now is the time for democracies… to stand up for those values that were created to protect especially small countries, middle sized countries like Sweden, where the big powers cannot take their rights at the expense of smaller countries… China is a big country having a great impact, where both nations are advanced technologically, we need to cooperate, but there are also security issues we need to take into account when trading with them.

On the India-Sweden bilateral front, what are the areas of cooperation you are looking at?

I see a very bright future in cooperation between Sweden and India, but we have also been cooperating and trading for a long time. We have almost 300 companies in India, many of them well-known, such as Ericsson, IKEA… Ericsson has been here for more than 100 years. I see great potential as we have many companies in the forefront in the green transition…