Sweden distributes ‘be prepared for war’ leaflet to all 4.8m homes

A new version of a Cold War-era emergency booklet covering different situations, including war, is being sent out to citizens of Sweden, reports Sky News

The 20-page brochure “If crisis or war comes” is about getting the country “better prepared” if public services have been debilitated by accidents, severe weather, IT attacks or “in the worst-case scenario, war,” the Civil Contingencies Agency said.

According to the brochure, Sweden’s population, which totals 10 million, has a duty to act if the country is threatened.

“If Sweden is attacked by another country, we will never give up,” the leaflet says.

“All information to the effect that resistance is to cease is false,” it says.

This comes as Stockholm’s concerns grow over the worsening security situation in the Baltic Sea region.

Russia has increased military operations there since it annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

“It is important in the light of the deterioration in the security situation in the rest of the world,” the agency said in a statement issued Monday.

The pamphlet will be distributed during the 28 May – 3 June Emergency Preparedness Week.

It suggests that an emergency box should be prepared and contain canned food, pasta and dried food.

The leaflet also urges people to hold cash, should money machines not work.

The Civil Contingencies Agency said Sweden is safer than many other countries but was aware the brochure may raise “questions and some concerns”.

It added that staff fluent in nine different languages will be at hand until 29 June for questions by telephone or online.

The document will also be available for download in Swedish, English and more than a dozen languages.