News from The New Backyard

Sweden prepares for a vulnerable energy winter

Low water reservoirs, depleted European gas stocks and reduced nuclear availability feature in Sweden’s assessment. Energy authorities also highlighted sabotage and cyberattacks against critical infrastructure as threats requiring continued preparedness.

For households and businesses, the immediate concern is exposure to higher prices and sudden fluctuations. The government’s assessment connects domestic energy security with disruptions affecting international fuel markets.

Sweden also adopted detailed requirements for medical stockpiles on October 22. Rules governing their content and scale take effect in January 2027 for regional authorities and six months later for municipalities. Socialstyrelsen, Sweden’s national health and welfare agency, will support implementation.

Norway and Finland pursue Ukraine diplomacy

Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, hosted talks in Oslo on October 20 with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, and US envoy Steve Witkoff. Jared Kushner participated remotely.

Details released on October 21 identified Ukrainian security, postwar reconstruction and territorial questions as subjects discussed. European, EU and NATO security advisers joined the working dinner. Concrete settlement terms remain undisclosed.

Finland’s president and government security committee separately discussed continued support for Ukraine and increased pressure on Russia on October 21. Their agenda also covered the winding down of Finland’s participation in UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Lebanon, and US sanctions against the International Criminal Court.

Digital resilience links Sweden, Finland and Iceland

Sweden authorized its tax agency on October 22 to enter a joint European procurement arrangement supporting large-scale artificial intelligence computing. The plan links a Swedish node to an AI gigafactory in Finland, backed by commitments to purchase computing capacity.

The government presents the initiative as a means of reducing Europe’s dependence on computing infrastructure elsewhere.

In Iceland, authorities published an October 21 warning from CERT-IS, the national cybersecurity team, about two serious vulnerabilities in PHP, software widely used to operate websites. The announcement concerns technical vulnerabilities; evidence of exploitation requires separate verification.

Maritime cooperation spans the Baltic and West Africa

The naval chiefs of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania concluded talks in Tallinn on October 21. Details published the following day covered joint operations, exercises, diver training and coordination of defense procurement plans.

Denmark’s military meanwhile announced support for a West African naval chiefs’ meeting during the week of October 19–25. Participating countries are working on shared patrol procedures and information exchange, amid shipping disruption linked to insecurity around the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz.

Baltic forces test practical readiness

Lithuania’s border guard led a radiological emergency exercise at Kena railway checkpoint, near Vilnius, on October 21. Police, customs, health services and railway personnel practiced detecting radioactive material, decontamination and evacuation using controlled sources and simulation materials.

In Tartu, Estonia, a military conference opened on October 22 to examine battlefield lessons from Ukraine. Latvian and Lithuanian military schools joined the program, which addresses small-unit tactics and cooperation between military branches.

Lithuania’s border guard also reported that 31 people were prevented from crossing from Belarus into Lithuania on October 21. Its regional tally recorded 27 prevented crossings into Latvia.