Swedish veterans march through Stockholm on Veterans’ Day

Hundreds of military veterans paraded through central Stockholm on Friday as Sweden marked Veterans’ Day, honouring those who have served in international missions, public broadcaster SVT reported.

The annual event, held at the Maritime Museum, included speeches, a wreath-laying ceremony, and a flyover by fighter jets. King Carl XVI Gustaf, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, and Speaker of the Parliament Andreas Norlén attended the commemorations, where medals were awarded to veterans of overseas deployments.

This year’s ceremony was the first to formally recognise veterans of NATO missions, following Sweden’s accession to the alliance. Kristersson told SVT that Swedish personnel are now serving in NATO operations in Latvia, Finland, and Baltic air policing.

“It’s only natural,” the prime minister said. “We’ve joined NATO, and part of Sweden’s defence now operates through NATO, even beyond our borders.” He added that overseas deployments would become more common, with rotations of six months or more in countries like Latvia and Finland.

Peter Hultqvist, the Social Democrats’ defence policy spokesperson, said NATO missions would expand but stressed that Sweden must continue participating in UN peacekeeping. “This creates a different kind of international engagement than the UN operations we’ve had so far,” he told SVT. “But we must remain part of UN missions in the future.”

Veterans and active-duty personnel marched from central Stockholm to the museum, where the ceremony concluded with tributes to fallen comrades.