Sweden to raise military spending over Ukraine war

Sweden’s government announced plans Thursday for a major boost in military spending to two percent of GDP “as soon as possible,” citing the security threat from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Sweden, which ended decades of defense cuts after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, said it hoped to reach its goal within a decade but gave no specific date.

“We hope to get there as soon as possible,” Social Democratic Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson told reporters.

The Scandinavian country, which during the Cold War dedicated up to four percent of its gross domestic product to the defense budget, drastically slashed its spending during the 1990s and early 2000s, to around one percent.