Swedish premier hosts German, Nordic leaders to deepen cooperation shadowed by a threat from Russia

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Monday that the Nordic and Baltic cooperation is now “deeper than at any time in modern times,” underpinned by increasing security threats from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

On Monday, Kristersson is hosting a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz and the Nordic prime ministers in Stockholm. At the same time, the three Baltic prime ministers meeting in Lithuania’s capital of Vilnius said that Moscow’s intimidation is not going to dissuade them from supporting Ukraine.

“We have long appreciated our neighbors, but at the same time underestimated the importance of concrete, operational cooperation,” Kristersson wrote in an op-ed in Swedish business paper Dagens Industri.

“If you want to cooperate well, you have to meet, get to know each other and seek broader common alliances — in both NATO and the EU,” Kristersson wrote.