Sweden’s Security Service (SAPO) said on Monday that it had disrupted an information operation linked to Russia that had been designed to discredit Sweden, NATO and the European Union.

According to the counterintelligence agency, a person involved in the operation had been active at a foreign diplomatic mission in Sweden. Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) had been responsible for designing and directing the plan for some time.

The operation’s main goal was stated to be gathering information from decision-making processes in Sweden in order to carry out influence operations around polarizing issues and create division. Swedish security officials stressed that after discovering the plan, they immediately took the necessary steps to protect the country’s critical assets.

The Swedish Security Service once again identified Russia, alongside China and Iran, as one of the main information threats against the country. In 2024, after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Sweden ended its two-century-old policy of military nonalignment and joined NATO.