Sweden Democrats official takes leave after allegations concerning Russia
In Sweden, Gustav Hellerbrant, head of the coordination office of the Sweden Democrats party, handed over his official pass and laptop to the Government Offices and immediately went on parental leave. This followed questions about a possible security risk linked to social media posts by his partner, who is of Russian origin, The Local Sweden reports.
Official’s statement
Hellerbrant said on Facebook that a media campaign against him had created excessive pressure on his family. According to him, he decided to take leave to distance himself from the situation and avoid distracting from the election campaign.
Anti-racist magazine Expo published an investigation into his partner, who moved to Sweden from Russia in 2006 and received Swedish citizenship in 2012. According to Expo, for about ten years she shared Russian propaganda on social media and praised Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, an aggressor state.
Hellerbrant rejected this interpretation, saying that Expo had published old posts without proper context. He noted that some of the publications were, according to his partner, sarcasm and irony, and that the posts allegedly criticized the Russian regime. He also said that on February 24, 2022, she called the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine the worst day of her life.
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The official added that he had fully informed the Government Offices about the circumstances during the security vetting. Expo editor-in-chief Anna Frid said that the details of the investigation were carefully documented and that Hellerbrant was not commenting on its most compromising findings.
Expo data and politicians’ reaction
Hellerbrant’s partner works for the Sweden Democrats as a special adviser to members of the Constitutional Committee, but she is also currently on parental leave. Expo drew attention to her participation in an amateur theatre group that included people linked to the now-defunct Russian National Federation “Rurik.” According to the magazine, the group’s director attended conferences involving representatives of Russian special services, while the theatre collective received funding from the Russian state.
Social Democratic Party secretary Tobias Baudin said that Hellerbrant should have been suspended from work and called on Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to explain whether sensitive information could have left the prime minister’s office. In a comment to SVT, Kristersson said that the matter primarily fell within the competence of the Sweden Democrats, but supported Hellerbrant’s decision to take leave.
