Estonia–Sweden relations
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Estonia–Sweden relations are the bilateral relations between Estonia and Sweden. Estonia has an embassy in Stockholm. Sweden has an embassy in Tallinn.
Both countries are full members of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, European Union and NATO. Estonia strongly supported Sweden's NATO membership.[citation needed]
History
[edit]Estonia was wholly or partially under Swedish rule between 1561 and 1721.[citation needed]
In 1944, Sweden became one of the first among the few countries to recognize the Soviet occupation of the Baltic countries. In 1945, Stockholm extradited to the Soviet Union around 170 Waffen-SS-soldiers from the Baltic countries who had fled the Red Army and found refuge in Sweden. On 15 August 2011, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt officially apologized to the prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in a ceremony in Stockholm saying that "Sweden owes its Baltic neighbours a "debt of honour" for turning a blind eye to post-war Soviet occupation" and speaking of "a dark moment" in his country's history.[1] Sweden re-recognized Estonia on 27 August 1991.
Bilateral visits
[edit]Since Estonia's independence, there have been many visits between leaders and senior officials from the two countries. In the last few years, the most important were:
To Sweden:
- January 2005 – Prime Minister of Estonia Juhan Parts
- May 2005 – Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Paet
- October 2005 – President of Estonia Arnold Rüütel
- August 2006 – Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Paet
- November 2006 – President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves
- September 2007 – President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves
To Estonia:
- 1925 - King Gustaf V
- 1932 - Crown Prince Gustaf VI Adolf
- April 1992 – King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden
- 2002 – King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden
- February 2006 – Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds
- November 2006 – Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt
- October 2007 – Queen Silvia of Sweden
- November 2007 – Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt
- May 2023 – King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden[2]
Resident diplomatic missions
[edit]- Embassy of Estonia in Stockholm
- Embassy of Sweden in Tallinn
See also
[edit]- Foreign relations of Estonia
- Foreign relations of Sweden
- Swedish Estonia
- Swedish Livonia
- Estonian Swedes
- Estonian Swedish
References
[edit]- ^ Sweden apologises to Baltics over Soviet era. Archived 2011-08-31 at the Wayback Machine The Swedish Wire, accessed 08-15-2011.
- ^ "Sweden's king, queen visit Baltic neighbor Estonia". AP NEWS. 2023-05-02. Retrieved 2023-05-02.