[…] We have exchanged views on the situation in the Baltic Sea region, and in northern Europe as a whole. We consider Sweden’s policy of non-participation in military alliances an important factor in regional stability. We see, with some concern, the consistent attempts to draw Stockholm into interaction with the North Atlantic Alliance. Sweden is increasingly participating in joint exercises with NATO and providing its territory for NATO maneuvers. It is our conviction that neither the Arctic nor entire northern Europe has any problems that require the involvement of military-political blocs. Any problem there can be resolved through the efforts of the countries in that region […]
Question: If the United States offers concessions with regard to preserving the Open Skies Treaty (OST), would Russia be willing to reverse its withdrawal from the Treaty, which began several weeks ago?
When the United States withdrew from the treaty, we told our European colleagues that we were willing to keep it, but that we would like to see them comply with the provision that prohibits the transfer of data obtained during observation flights to a country that is not part of the OST. They started telling us that this provision was already included in the treaty. We cited the information that we have that the United States, having decided to withdraw, was trying to talk its NATO allies into committing themselves, in violation of the treaty, to “share” with Washington the information gathered during flights over Russia. Since we had reliable information that the previous administration engaged in “arm twisting,” we invited our OST colleagues to reiterate their commitment that information obtained during observation flights would not be transferred to a third party. Läs intevjun