The Swedish are coming! legion.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from legion.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Sweden ups defence budget 40% due to regional tensions
by The Associated Press
Last Updated Dec 15, 2020 at 10:58 am EDT
STOCKHOLM Sweden’s Parliament on Tuesday approved a 40% increase in the defence budget for 2021-2025 because of tensions in the Baltic Sea region in recent years, with officials saying Russia is the main reason for the move.
The 349-member Riksdag assembly approved the largest hike in 70 years, bringing the annual defence budget by 2025 to 89 billion kronor (10.6 billion).
Defence Minister Peter Hultquist told the assembly before the series of votes that “it is the largest investment since the 1950s.”
The proposal was put forward in October by Sweden’s two-party Social Democrat-Green Party minority government, and it received immediate backing from two smaller opposition groups.
Sweden ups defense budget 40% due to regional tensions
By DAVID KEYTONDecember 15, 2020 GMT
STOCKHOLM (AP) Sweden’s Parliament on Tuesday approved a 40% increase in the defense budget for 2021-2025 because of tensions in the Baltic Sea region in recent years, with officials saying Russia is the main reason for the move.
The 349-member Riksdag assembly approved the largest hike in 70 years, bringing the annual defense budget by 2025 to 89 billion kronor ($10.6 billion).
Defense Minister Peter Hultquist told the assembly before the series of votes that “it is the largest investment since the 1950s.”
“We see a new security environment and that they (Moscow) are ready to use military power also to fulfill political goals,” Hulquist later told The Associated Press.
Sweden ups defense budget 40 percent due to regional tensions stripes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stripes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.