VIDEO. “I have enough for 7 days at home”: these Swedes are preparing for a Russian attack

“Gas masks, protective suits in case of radioactive fallout, military rations, canned food, a radio, sleeping bags, cans of water…”. Nils, 30, makes a list of everything in his apartment in Stockholm, Sweden. This is enough for him to live alone, without electricity, for a week. “It’s not just about what we have, but what we have to learn,” adds the thirty-year-old, who ferments, dries or salts his food to help it preserve better.

If Nils is collecting all this survival equipment and food, it is because the Swedish authorities recommend that their citizens be able to survive completely independently at home for 7 days in the event of war with Russia. “There was always a fear of the Russians, a fear that they would invade us. But I think that fear has intensified recently,” he explains, referring to the invasion of Ukraine and Sweden’s application to join NATO. This month, the government even called on Swedes to “mentally prepare for war” because it is convinced that “the invasion of Ukraine is just a stage.”

Nils isn’t particularly worried. Although they say it’s always better to be prepared, whether it’s a Russian invasion, a cyber attack, or a natural disaster. And then: “Even if it means surviving, we might as well be together,” he told himself. So he prepared everything for one more person. He also sells games, books and an acoustic guitar to “keep you occupied and entertained if you’re stuck at home for a week,” he jokes. Nils reminds us that there have always been extreme survivalists preparing for the apocalypse. He’s not one of those. “But the number of mini-trainings like the one I have at home has increased because that’s what the Swedish Civil Protection Agency recommends,” explains the man known in Sweden as a “prepper.”

Nils has always been passionate and intrigued by survival. In 2018, when the Swedish state sent out a pamphlet explaining what to do in case of war, a young Swede and a friend turned their basement into a virtual bunker in which they lived for a week “just to get in shape.” “