FACTBOX - Russia-Sweden Relations

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th April, 2019) Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Tuesday with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven on the sidelines of the International Arctic Forum in Russia's city of St. Petersburg.

Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Sweden were established on March 16, 1924. Sweden was one of the first countries to recognize Russia as the successor of the Soviet Union on December 19, 1991.

Before the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, relations between Russia and Sweden had been characterized by gradual development.

In November 2009, then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev paid a visit to Stockholm and held negotiations with then Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

In March 2010, Reinfeldt visited Moscow with a working visit at Medvedev's invitation. During the talks, the two colleagues discussed bilateral economic relations as well as international issues. A number of bilateral documents were signed following the meeting. During his visit, Reinfeldt also met with Vladimir Putin, who at that time served as Russian prime minister.

On April 27, 2011, Putin visited Stockholm. His talks with Reinfeldt were focused on cooperation in the modernization, interaction in the fields of economy and trade, as well as in the field of environmental protection in the Baltic region. Four documents, including a partnership declaration, were signed following the talks. During the visit, Putin also met with Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf at the royal palace.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid working visits to Sweden in June 2007 and October 2011. Lavrov also met with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt in Moscow on September 13, 2012, and on the sidelines of the 2013 Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Sweden's Kiruna on May 14.

On March 13-15, 2013, Per Westerberg, the speaker of the Swedish parliament, Riksdag, came to Russia� at the invitation of Russian Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko.

On December 2-3, 2013, Matviyenko paid a reciprocal visit to Stockholm, where she met with Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Foreign Minister Bildt and the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Stefan Lofven, who became the country's prime minister on October 3, 2014. She also held talks with Westerberg and opened the event dubbed "Days of Russian Culture" in Sweden.

On February 13-17, 2014, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and his wife Queen Silvia visited the Winter Olympics in Sochi. On June 2-4, 2017, the royal couple paid a private visit to the Russian capital.

After the events in Ukraine and the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014, Sweden has stuck to the position adopted by the European Union and has strongly supported sanctions against Russia. The two countries' ministries and departments suspended all contacts at the initiative of the Swedish side.

The only exceptions were the conversation between Lavrov and Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom on the sidelines of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council in the Swiss city of Basel in December 2014 and the meeting of then Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich and Swedish Minister for Research and Higher education Helene Hellmark Knutsson on the margins of the Science and Technology in Society Forum in Japan's Kyoto in October 2015.

In December 2016, the Swedish leadership announced Stockholm's readiness to restore the political dialogue with Russia, despite the differences in the assessments of certain events.

On February 21, 2017, Wallstrom paid a working visit to Russia.

On October 18-19, 2017, Wallstrom visited Russia's northern city of Arkhangelsk to participate in the ministerial session of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC). During the event, Wallstrom had a bilateral conversation with Lavrov.

The foreign ministers of the two countries also met on the sidelines of the annual informal meeting of the OSCE foreign ministers in the Austrian town of Mauerbach on July 11, 2017 and in New York on September 21, 2017.

In 2018, Lavrov and Wallstrom help several phone conversations � on February 6 and 24, on April 17 and on June 15.

Russia interacts with Sweden in various international organizations, including the United Nations. The two countries also cooperate through the regional structures in northern Europe and in the Arctic, namely the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the BEAC, the Arctic Council and the Northern Dimension.

Practical issues related to economic cooperation between the two countries are supervised by the Russian-Swedish Observatory Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation. The committee's co-chairs met on September 13, 2017, which became their first meeting since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine.

There has been positive dynamics in bilateral trade in recent years. In 2018, the Russian-Swedish trade amounted to $5.3 billion, compared to $4 billion in 2017. Russian exports totaled $3.1 billion, while imports reached $2.2 billion.

Russia's Primary exports to Sweden include mineral products and chemicals, while the imports are mainly represented by machinery, equipment and vehicles; metals and metal products; wood and pulp and paper products; food products; and agricultural raw materials.

In 2017, the volume of accumulated Russian investments in Sweden amounted to $225 million, while Sweden invested in Russia $3.8 billion.

Around 350 Swedish companies, including Volvo, Scania, and Ericsson, have representative offices and branches in Russia.

In turn, the Swedish Kubal, the only producer of primary aluminum in the country and one of the country's largest industrial enterprises, is one of the examples of Russian investments.

More than 25 Russian cities and regions maintain twinning relations or have cooperation agreements with the Swedish administrative entities, especially the central and southern ones.

Sweden participates in environmental projects in Russia through international financial institutions.

The two countries also maintain cooperation in the fields of science, culture, art and sports.

It is estimated that about 20,000 Russian compatriots live in Sweden. The coordinating council of Russian compatriots in Sweden has been operating since 2003.

The Russian Orthodox Church is represented by parishes in the Swedish cities of Arboga, Gavle, Gothenburg, Helsingborg, Jonkoping, Karlstad, Lulea, Stockholm, Umea, Uppsala, and Vasteras.