On March 7, 2018, an online edition Sakinform released an article titled “Scandal! Sweden and Finland reject NATO membership and persuade Ukraine to make friends with Russia.” The article reads that after Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Federal Assembly, Sweden finally rejected its membership to NATO. Sakinform quotes Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt as saying that Sweden cannot put the nation’s security at risk through its membership to NATO.
Sakinform’s article contains disinformation. Stefan Löfven has been the Prime Minister of Sweden since 2014 after his predecessor, Fredrik Reinfeldt quit the post. The primary source of the quotation cited by Sakinform is Russian portal Яндекс.Дзен.
1. Fredrik Reinfeldt resigned from the Prime Minister’s position in 2014.
Fredrik Reinfeldt is not the incumbent Prime Minister of Sweden. He resigned in 2014. So, even if he had made the statement about NATO following Putin’s March 1, 2018 address, this statement cannot be considered an official position of the Swedish government.
2. Russian news portal Яндекс.Дзен is Sakinform’s primary source
The former Swedish Prime Minister’s assessments about NATO were first published by Russian news portal Яндекс.Дзен on March 3, 2018; however, the information is no longer available on the website. The same information was later disseminated by Russian-language Facebook page День России on March 6, 2018.
