Sweden has charged a 47-year-old man with spying for Russia by selling information to a Russian diplomat, according to multiple reports. The man worked as a consultant at several Swedish companies where he illegally obtained and sold information, senior prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said. He was apprehended while meeting a Russian diplomat and had just received 27,800 Swedish crowns ($3,360) from the diplomat, Ljungqvist added. The maximum penalty for espionage in Sweden is six years, according to research sources.
The 47-year-old consultant illegally transferred material from his work computer to his private computer and to USB sticks, and photographed material from his screen to avoid logging, the prosecution said. He has been detained since September 2021, according to research sources. The case highlights the ongoing threat of espionage against Swedish companies and government agencies.
In a separate case, the Stockholm district court remanded a 33-year-old Swede in custody on suspicion of espionage, according to multiple reports. The preliminary investigation indicates that the suspect has assisted the Russian intelligence service, Mats Ljungqvist said. The alleged crimes are believed to have taken place between January 1, 2025 and January 4, 2026, according to court documents. The man worked as an IT consultant for the Swedish military from 2018 to 2022, a spokesman for the military said. In 2024, he started a company specializing in cybersecurity, focusing on 'offensive cyber operations', according to public records. He has been detained since November 2021, according to research sources.
A government official has been indicted at Stockholm District Court for gross unauthorized handling of secret information, the Swedish Prosecution Authority (Åklagarmyndigheten) announced. The man is suspected of unauthorized handling of information concerning Sweden's security, the authority said. The preliminary investigation was conducted by the Security Police under the direction of a prosecutor from the National Unit for Security Cases, according to Åklagarmyndigheten. Senior prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist stated that the information had very high protective value and that the accused man unauthorizedly handled it by taking home and retaining documents with secret information in his residence and summer house. The information concerned matters of great importance for the defense of the realm, according to Åklagarmyndigheten. The investigation shows that the document contains secret information whose disclosure could harm Sweden's security if revealed to a foreign power, the authority said. The case number at Stockholm District Court is B 9299-25, according to Åklagarmyndigheten. The diplomat is suspected of storing documents concerning Sweden's security in his summer house and apartment, according to a source close to the investigation. He was arrested on May 11 last year during a Säpo raid on his summer house, the source added. The documents were found in a chest at the summer house and in a pile of papers in the apartment, according to Säpo's investigation. According to Säpo's investigation, the diplomat handled the documents without intent to pass them to a foreign power.
The man was also suspected of having disclosed secret information by handing it over to a former politician in Gävle, Åklagarmyndigheten said. However, the prosecutor has decided to drop the preliminary investigation regarding that suspicion because it cannot be proven when or how the document was disclosed to the politician, the authority added.
These cases come amid broader tensions between Russia and the European Union. Germany, Poland and Sweden expelled an employee of Russia's embassy in each country on February 8 as a coordinated tit-for-tat response to Moscow's expulsion of a diplomat each from Germany, Poland and Sweden, according to multiple reports. Ties between Russia and the European Union have worsened over Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny's arrest and jailing, research sources indicate.
Several unknowns remain in these cases. A major part of the information in the indictment is confidential, according to research sources. The identity of the indicted diplomat has not been disclosed, and it is unclear whether the two espionage cases are related. The detention dates for the indicted men appear inconsistent: research sources state they have been detained since September and November 2021, while the 33-year-old's alleged crimes occurred in 2025-2026, suggesting these are separate cases with different timelines. The specific secret information involved in the diplomat's case has not been revealed.