Professor warns of security risks in SD official case

SVT reports that a female Sweden Democrats official in the Swedish Parliament has been accused of spreading pro-Russian messages and having links to Russian state interests.

Wilhelm Agrell, a professor of intelligence analysis, said it is difficult to determine when a person in a sensitive position becomes a security threat.

“You can never give an unequivocal answer to that, but the problem exists,” Agrell said.

The newspaper Expo reported that the official had spread pro-Russian messages and taken part in a high-profile, Kremlin-sponsored trip to Russia.

She is the partner of Sweden Democrats politician Gustav Gellerbrant. In a Facebook post, Gellerbrant said Expo had taken the information out of context and that his partner had also publicly criticised Russia.

The Sweden Democrats are investigating the allegations. Both Gellerbrant and his partner are on parental leave and have previously undergone security vetting.

According to Dagens Nyheter, the Sweden Democrats have been in contact with the Swedish Security Service over Expo’s report, but the publication is not believed to have led to any new assessments by the agency. The signals have instead been described as reassuring.

“We do not go into greater detail about the contacts we have as part of our operational work,” the Swedish Security Service press office told SVT.

An anonymous Sweden Democrats source told Dagens Nyheter that any suspicion of an intention to deliberately disclose information to a foreign power would have led to the seizure of the pair’s electronic devices several days ago.

Agrell did not comment on the specific case. He said there have been several examples in Sweden and Europe of politicians expressing sympathy for the Russian narrative, but that it is a separate question whether this creates a security problem.

He referred to historical contacts with the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany as examples of the same recurring dilemma: when does sympathy for a major power hostile to one’s country make a person a security threat?

In the past, Agrell said, people with excessively close contacts with foreign powers have generally been kept away from highly sensitive positions. He said this protects Sweden’s security while also protecting those individuals from being exploited.

SVT has sought comment from the Sweden Democrats official and Gellerbrant.