SAPO warns: Russia owns real estate in sensitive places in Sweden

Sweden has a problem with Russian real estate; they should be taken over and Russians prevented from making further investments, former Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist appealed on Tuesday. The parliamentarian of the opposition Social Democrats cited security issues.

– I found that 152 Russian citizens own 247 properties in northern Sweden and around Stockholm. Some of them are located near strategic companies and military facilities, Hultqvist said at a press conference called in parliament.

He added that Russians often purchased real estate using false identities.

The Swedish secret service SAPO warned that the Russian state was using company structures as a façade for intelligence activities, and the police made it clear that Russian networks engaging in wide-scale economic crime operate in Sweden, Hultqvist said.

The chairman of the parliamentary defense committee proposed that Sweden, following the example of Finland, introduce a law regulating the purchase of land and real estate by foreign citizens and entities. – The purpose of these regulations would be to stop Russian activities in this area, Hultqvist emphasized. When asked by journalists what to do with buildings already belonging to Russians, he did not rule out their confiscation.

Recently, the Swedish media wrote about the purchase of real estate near the airport in Vaesteras, approximately 100 km west of Stockholm, by the Russian Orthodox Church, affiliated with the Kremlin, for use as a temple. SAPO then raised the alarm about espionage activities taking place there. According to the “Expressen” newspaper, a plot of land with a villa on the island of Muskoe in the Stockholm archipelago, near a secret Swedish naval base, was purchased by Russian businessman Stanislav Aleshchenko and his wife. Journalists found out that the man is the owner of a company in Russia linked to the Russian arms industry.

The center-right government of Sweden is in the process of preparing a draft law limiting the possibility of purchasing facilities of strategic importance, e.g. airports and ports. According to Hultqvist, this is not enough. – We need to protect our interests much more broadly – ​​he emphasized.

The former defense minister also proposed that Sweden, like Finland and the Baltic countries, restrict the issuance of tourist visas to Russians. According to Hultqvist, this can be done, for example, by extending administrative procedures and increasing the number of refusals.

In a report published in spring, the organization Acta Publica and the Defense University of Stockholm showed that there are 300 Russian companies operating in Sweden, with which 2,133 people connected with Russia are linked through shares. “This is only a fraction of Russian interests,” the analysis warned.

From Stockholm Daniel Zyśk (PAP)

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