NATO's newest members update their civil preparedness guides for risk of war

HELSINKI — Sweden and Finland, which recently gave up neutrality and joined NATO following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sent out updated civil preparedness guides on Monday with instructions how to survive in war.

The guides are similar to those in Denmark and Norway, though none mentions Russia by name.

In January, Sweden’s former military commander-in-chief Gen. Micael Bydén said it openly: Swedes should mentally prepare for the possibility of war. Sweden in March formally joined NATO as the 32nd member of the transatlantic military alliance, nearly a year after Finland.

The updated Swedish guide explains how to respond to an attack with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons: "Take cover in the same way as with an airstrike. Shelters provide the best protection. After a couple days, the radiation has decreased sharply.”

“It is no secret that the security situation has deteriorated since the previous brochure was issued in 2018,” Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin told a press conference last month. The Swedish Baltic Sea island of Gotland sits a little more than 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

In Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) land border with Russia, the guide is compiled by the government, which has stressed that “preparedness is a civic skill in the current global situation.”

The Nordic countries all urge people to stockpile drinking water, canned food, medicine, heating, toilet paper, money and flashlights and candles. And if possible, keep the car fully refueled.

The checklist also includes iodine tablets, in case of a nuclear event.