SVT: Sweden imposes restrictions on reporting on Ukraine

Sweden’s state-run TV channel SVT has for the first time decided not to make public a report on events in Ukraine because of the risk of falling under the recently passed law on foreign espionage, SVT reports. Since late last year, it has been a crime in the Scandinavian kingdom to reveal classified information about Swedish authorities’ cooperation with other countries and international organisations.

 

 

 

 

Sweden’s new law on foreign espionage, passed last autumn, criminalises the disclosure of classified information about Sweden’s international cooperation that could damage the Scandinavian kingdom’s relations with other states or international organisations such as NATO, the UN and the EU, SVT wrote.

For this reason, the Swedish state TV channel SVT for the first time decided not to publish material about Ukraine due to the fact that it may fall under the new law. According to Charlotte Freeborg, SVT’s executive editor of news, the publication referred to images of secret maps of Ukraine that showed weaknesses in the country’s energy supply. The images were taken from a recent Pentagon leak circulating on the Internet, and the Swedish journalists only wanted to show them to explain what exactly was being leaked.

However, after consulting with lawyers, Charlotte Freeborg decided to stop the publication. The lawyers concluded that the material could fall within the scope of the new law. Before the new law came into force, Swedish media warned that it could impede journalistic work and lead to restrictions and self-censorship, the article noted.

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