Sweden's 200-year-old posture of military neutrality has been eroding amid European integration, and a perceived new threat from Russia has politicians now talking about abandoning it altogether and joining NATO.
Swedish forces have been taking part in peacekeeping, military exercises and some NATO-led missions since the 1990s as the country has joined regional and international forces to reduce its vulnerability in a still-volatile region more than two decades after the Cold War ended.
But fear of a resurgent Russia is rife in the former Soviet republics across the Baltic Sea, and Moscow's air and naval forces have stepped up patrols near and into Baltic states' airspace and maritime zones over the last two years as relations between Russia and the West have become newly hostile.