Reid Standish: Fearing Russian bear, Sweden inches toward NATO
Since the annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of war in eastern Ukraine in 2014, things have gotten tense between Russia and Sweden. Russian jets have repeatedly prodded Swedish airspace, a massive hunt was launched for a foreign submarine - suspected to be Russian - off the coast of Stockholm, and the closure of Swedish airspace last November may have been caused by a Russian cyber-attack. Adding to the tensions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter in April that Moscow will "take necessary measures" if militarily neutral Sweden decides to join NATO.