My understanding is that Sweden under no circumstances would have been able to extradite him to the US, and certainly not with less difficulty than extradition

My understanding is that Sweden under no circumstances would have been able to extradite him to the US, and certainly not with less difficulty than extradition from the UK. The fact that Assange fled Sweden for the UK, skipped bail, and then concocted a Swedish conspiracy theory is a bit on the implausible side. >He was never formally charged My understanding is that the Swedish system does not allow formal charges in abstentia.