Sweden to form new spy agency in Ukraine war reset

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The foreign intelligence service would start operations in January 2027

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Agence France-PressePublished: 5:43pm, 5 May 2026

Sweden’s government said on Tuesday it would push forward with a plan to form a new spy agency targeting overseas threats, part of a wider reset prompted by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The new agency would be called Sweden’s foreign intelligence service (UND) and would start operations in January 2027, Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told a press conference.

“During the ongoing war in Ukraine, it has become very clear that an information advantage and the ability to rapidly and continuously adapt various technical systems are just as crucial as advanced weapons systems,” Stenergard told reporters, adding the new service would be comparable to the UK’s MI6.

AdvertisementSweden already has a military intelligence service – called the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST) – with a responsibility for foreign threats as well as the non-military Swedish Security Service (Sapo) which is focused on domestic threats.

Stenergard said the new service would take over some of the responsibilities of MUST, and work closely with Sweden’s Armed Forces and Sapo, as well as the National Defence Radio Establishment which is tasked with signal intelligence.

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The Nordic country dropped two centuries of military nonalignment and joined Nato in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Stenergard noted that as an ally Sweden faced “new expectations”.

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