Sweden plans to refill food silos for first time since the Cold War, citing a potential conflict with Russia<\/p>\n
Sweden has announced that it will begin stockpiling food and agricultural supplies for the first time since the Cold War, citing what officials describe as a growing threat from Russia. Moscow has rejected these claims, insisting that it poses no danger to any NATO or EU countries.
\nThe Swedish Board of Agriculture stated on Tuesday that it will create emergency reserves of grain and other key supplies to ensure that citizens have access to sufficient food \u201cin the event of a serious crisis and, in the extreme, war.\u201d The government has allocated around $57 million in its 2026 budget to fund the program.
\nThe first storage facilities will be established in the north of the country due to its \u201cstrategic military importance\u201d and low level of self-sufficiency in grain, according to Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin, who said \u201cthere is no time to lose.\u201d
\nThe new stockpiles will be built up over the period of 2026-2028. The Board of Agriculture said the goal is to guarantee food supplies equivalent to 3,000 calories per person per day during a state of heightened alert.
\nLawmakers in neighboring Finland, meanwhile, have said they will conduct underground training exercises next month to practice working in wartime conditions, similarly citing a supposed threat from Russia.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Finland calls on EU to be ready to \u2018fight\u2019 Russia<\/p>\n
Moscow has repeatedly denounced what it calls anti-Russian hysteria and fearmongering pushed by Western European leaders, stressing that it has no reason or intention to take hostile actions against any EU or NATO countries. Russian officials have dismissed the claims as nonsense meant to justify inflated military budgets and the bloc\u2019s ongoing militarization.
\nSpeaking at the Valdai Discussion Club earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Finland and Sweden\u2019s accession to NATO in 2023 \u201cfoolish,\u201d adding that Moscow had not had any issues with either country and had long maintained friendly relations.
\nHe said the two Nordic states \u201clost the benefits of their neutral status\u201d by joining the US-led bloc and that the decision has needlessly undermined regional stability without enhancing their security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sweden plans to refill food silos for first time since the Cold War, citing a potential conflict with Russia Sweden has announced that it will begin stockpiling food and agricultural…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t