Sweden brings back military conscription amid Baltic tensions
The Swedish government has decided to reintroduce military conscription - a move backed by the country's MPs. Why is this happening? And how will it work? How does it impact regional security? And which other European countries have conscription?
The decision means that 4,000 men and women will be called up for service from 1 January 2018, a defence ministry spokeswoman told the BBC. They will be selected from about 13,000 young people born in 1999, who will be asked to undergo a military assessment, Marinette Nyh Radebo said. Non-aligned Sweden is worried about Russia's Baltic military drills. In September, a Swedish garrison was restored to Gotland, a big island lying between the Swedish mainland and the three ex-Soviet Baltic states.
According to a 2015 research paper by Barbara Kunz of the Cerfa at IFRI, Sweden has about 52,000 full-time military personnel - 20,000 of them permanent staff and most of the others Home Guard members.
Read the full article on the BBC website.