Canceling the nuclear deal: Where will Russia-Sweden relations go after Stockholm joins NATO?
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has ordered the cancellation of an information-sharing agreement with Sweden on nuclear incidents and facilities, after Stockholm joined the NATO military bloc last year.
RT news agency reported on June 30 that the relevant document was signed by Mr. Mishustin on June 24 and published on the state legal information portal last Friday (June 27).
This agreement, signed between the Soviet Union and Sweden in 1988 and entered into force in April of the same year, stems from the 1986 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Convention on Early Notification of Nuclear Accidents. Under it, IAEA members agreed to notify each other of any nuclear accident on their territory that could affect other countries.
One notable historical detail is that scientists at Sweden's Forsmark nuclear power plant were among the first in the West to detect rising radiation levels on April 28, 1986, two days after the explosion at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine.
Sweden officially joined NATO in March 2024, abandoning its long-standing policy of neutrality. Since February 2022, Stockholm has provided nearly $10 billion in military aid and other support to Kiev and announced a major rearmament program at home.
Constitutionally, Russia remains the successor state of the Soviet Union, having assumed all of the bloc's debts after the Soviet Union's collapse, and Moscow recognizes international treaties signed by the Soviet Union.
In May, Russia's ambassador to Stockholm, Sergey Belyaev, told RIA-Novosti news agency that Stockholm's stance "shows that Sweden has completely lost its status as a neutral country and is turning into a 'springboard' for NATO's military ambitions."