In its 2023 annual report, the Swedish security police, SAPO, for the first time said that “Russia poses the biggest threat to Sweden’s security”, noting it was “the only country in Sweden’s vicinity to present a military threat”.
As part of the Russian threat, the agency singled out the dangers of Moscow’s hybrid warfare tactics, and warned that the Russian Orthodox Church is likely a part of that toolkit. The Swedish branch of the Kremlin-aligned Moscow Patriarchate has since been accused of acting as a platform for Russian influence operations and espionage activities in the Nordic country.
FRANCE 24 interviewed Russia’s Ambassador to Sweden, Sergey Belyaev, to allow him to respond to the allegations.
Sweden’s domestic intelligence agency has accused Russia of waging hybrid warfare in Sweden through influence operations and intelligence gathering. How do you respond to these allegations?
Sergey Belyaev: These allegations are ridiculous. Russia has no intention to attack Sweden. Not militarily, or in any other way. The Swedish government declares Russia to be a threat to Swedish national security, and Swedes are very active in inventing different fantasies about how Russia and Russians can threaten Sweden. But those fantasies are, and will always remain, fairy tales.
What about the allegations made against the Russian Orthodox congregation in Vasteras, which is suspected of having been built for the purpose of spying on the nearby airport?
Sergey Belyaev: It was not the people of the Orthodox community who decided where the temple would be situated, it was the city of Vasteras. Now we see that some local politicians and journalists declare that this temple is a threat, a danger because it stands near to the airport. And from my point of view, it's just a campaign against everything that has a link to Russia, to the Russian language, and to Russian culture.
Do you know the Russian Orthodox priest in Vasteras, Pavel Makarenko?
Sergey Belyaev: Yes, he's a very intelligent and smart person. A real priest who is interested in serving his community, serving the people with whom he works with [in his role] as a priest of the temple. He's a very distinguished person.
Makarenko has allegedly been awarded with a medal from Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the SVR. What are your thoughts on that?
Sergey Belyaev: Well, I don't know whether there was such an award given to him or not, but you know, different Russian ministries – just like ministries here in Sweden – have their own awards. And we have, for example, a Russian foreign ministry that also gives its partners a special medal for co-operation. But it doesn't mean that the person who receives this medal is a representative of the Russian foreign ministry.
Your deputy, Vladimir Lyapin, was present at the inauguration of the church. He has been accused of being a Russian spy. Is that true?
Sergey Belyaev: Well, again we return to speculations. You know, there are a lot of issues written in the newspapers that are impossible to believe in. And, yes, Vladimir is my deputy. He is working as the number two in our embassy. And I know him from the very first steps of his career in the ministry of foreign affairs. And, you know, I can assure you that he represents the ministry of foreign affairs and nothing else.
The Vasteras case seems symptomatic of the increasingly tense relations between Russia and Sweden – how do you see those ties evolving?
Sergey Belyaev: Relations between our two countries have a long and rich history. [There have been] different times, good and bad. Now, the political relations between us are frozen. The economic co-operation is frozen, and the relations are at a very low level.
At this stage, it is very difficult to see when and how this situation might change. It depends on the Europeans and the Swedes. What their attitude [towards us] is. For us, I can say, once again, that we will not threaten Sweden in any way.
But of course, we are concerned about the Swedish membership in NATO. And it's a pity that Sweden, that was [previously] a neutral country, a very distinguished country in international politics, has now lost its political independence.
Louise Nordstrom contributed to this article.
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