STOCKHOLM, April 15 (Reuters) – A pro-Russian cyber group tried to disrupt operations at a Swedish thermal power plant last year, the Swedish government said on Wednesday, adding that Russian hybrid attacks had become more frequent and serious.
Carl-Oskar Bohlin, minister for civil defence, said the group had targeted a power plant in western Sweden during spring of 2025, but that the attack had been unsuccessful. Bohlin did not name the plant.
“The Security Police handled the case and were able to identify the actor behind it, who had connections to Russian intelligence and security services,” Bohlin told a news conference.
“Fortunately, no serious consequences occurred due to a built-in protection mechanism,” the minister said.
The Russian embassy in Stockholm did not immediately reply to a request for comment but Moscow regularly denies responsibility for malicious cyber activity in Europe.
A Security Police spokesperson said the agency no longer had an open investigation into the matter.
Bohlin compared the incident with similar attacks in Poland on energy infrastructure, which Polish officials have blamed on Russian spy agencies.
He said Russian hybrid attacks had become more frequent since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and recently also more dangerous.
“We have seen for some time now that pro-Russian individuals and groups that have previously carried out denial-of-service attacks are attempting to carry out destructive cyberattacks against businesses in Europe, also against Swedish targets,” he said.
(Reporting by Johan Ahlander, editing by Terje Solsvik)
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