We know Russia does not care about Sweden. It didn't care much back then either, except that Sweden was completely surrounded by NATO on one side, and the Sovi

We know Russia does not care about Sweden. It didn't care much back then either, except that Sweden was completely surrounded by NATO on one side, and the Soviet realm on the other. To get to Norway in time you'd have to go through Sweden. To control the Baltic Sea you would have to take the island of Gotland, or at least make sure the other side is denied Gotland. Our defence was just to avoid being caught between a rock and hard place. The idea of not joining NATO was that standing outside of it, we had at least a slim chance of avoid being dragged into the bulk of the NATO - Soviet theatre of war. AS NATO members we would have been hit by default. How can any of this be hard to understand? Especially against the backdrop of World War 2 being in living memory, and that being neutral worked then. Just barely and from luck, bravery and evil in an even mix, but it did work. It's not in the strategic interest of Sweden even today to let Russia play divide and conquer. NordStream is such an attempt by Russia to divide Europe, and Sweden has protested, weakly. Russia does not care, of course. Nobody expected it will.