Adviser to the Prime Minister of Sweden forgot a folder with secret documents that got to the Russians

In Sweden, the prosecutor's office has charged the former adviser to the Prime Minister of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson, with negligent performance of his duties. Secret documents left by the official could end up in the hands of a Russian citizen.

According to the prosecutor's office, in March 2023, the Prime Minister's national security adviser Henrik Landerholm forgot to pick up documents important for state security from a locker in a conference center not far from Stockholm. The folder was found by a cleaner from Georgia, which had ties with a Russian who has roots in an extremist Islamist milieu, the supervisory authority notes.

As established by the Swedish special service SAPO, the woman received a transfer of 15,000 Swedish kronor from the man, however, it is unclear whether this transaction was a payment for the provision of documents. The cleaner could not be questioned because she had already left Sweden.

Later it turned out that this was not the first case of Landerholm's absent-mindedness. He also forgot his phone at the Hungarian embassy and left a notebook at the Swedish Radio office. As a result, the official resigned at the end of January 2025 after the prosecutor's office launched an investigation into the fact of leaving secret documents unattended.

According to the media, the version of events set out in the indictment differs from that presented during the internal investigation initiated by the government office. At that time, it was believed that no significant damage had been caused. However, according to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, this puts Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in a bad light, who may have tried to hide the situation in this way, since Landerholm and Kristersson are childhood friends.