KUNGL KRIGSVETENSKAPSAKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR OCH TIDSKRIFT DISKUSSION & DEBATT Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko and Sweden by Sven Hirdman ormer Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei The relations between Sweden and the FGromyko, whose 100th birthday is Soviet Union got on to a new footing commemorated this year, had several con- when, in April 1956, Prime Minister Tage tacts with Sweden from 1948 until 1984. Erlander and his coalition partner Minister To Swedish diplomats he was a very well- for the Interior, Gunnar Hedlund, paid known figure and, I would say, a respected an official visit to the Soviet Union – the statesman. I met him on a few occasions, first ever by a Swedish Prime Minister. As as described below. First Deputy Foreign Minister, Gromyko Andrei Gromyko’s first contact with should have participated in this event. Sweden was in 1948. He was then the So- Substantial talks took place with the Soviet viet Representative to the United Nations. Government, led by Nikita Khrushchev Suddenly, he had to return to Moscow for and Nikolai Bulganin, on international is- family reasons and boarded the Swedish sues and on Swedish – Russian relations, Atlantic liner Gripsholm, being the fastest including the well-known Raoul Wallen- connection. Had he, as originally planned, berg case. A year later, in February 1957, taken the Soviet ship Pobeda, he would it was Gromyko who handed the Swedish have suffered disaster, as the Pobeda Ambassador in Moscow, Mr Rolf Sohl- caught fire in the Black Sea and many pe- man, a note saying that Wallenberg had ople died. Gromyko describes the incident died in the Lyubyanka prison in July 1947. in his memoirs and remembers fondly the The Swedish Government was initially not Swedish Smorgasbord served on board the convinced of the truth of this information ship. On the way to Moscow he passed but arrived at the substantive conclusion through Göteborg and Stockholm.1 40 to 50 years later that Raoul Wallenberg 1 Gromyko, Andrei: Memories, London 1989 6-2009 59 KUNGL KRIGSVETENSKAPSAKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR OCH TIDSKRIFT had indeed been executed by the MVD, as whom he conveyed a renewed invitation indicated by Gromyko. to pay an official visit to Sweden. The Prime Minister Erlander invited Prime date was fixed at June 1964 and would in Minister Khrushchev to pay a return visit to addition include Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The date was provisionally set for Finland. 1959. However, as the time for the Soviet The spring of 1964 was devoted to visit approached in August 1959, there was preparing the Khrushchev visit. In early much agitation in Sweden, particularly spring, Sweden was visited by two Soviet from the political opposition, against the cosmonauts, Gagarin and Bykovsky, who visit by the Soviet Communist leader. This received much public attention. The next caused Khrushchev to cancel his visit at step was the official visit by Andrei Gro- a late stage; he was then also engaged in myko for talks with his Swedish colleague plans to visit the United States. A month Torsten Nilsson 17 – 21 March. As a young later, in September 1959, the Swedish diplomat and in charge of the Soviet desk Foreign Minister Professor Östen Undén at the Swedish Foreign Ministry, I parti- (Foreign Minister 1945-1962) and Soviet cipated in these talks as a note-taker. The Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko met two foreign ministers, as in their meeting in New York at a private dinner arranged in Moscow, devoted most of their time by the Swedish Secretary General of the to international issues, particularly the United Nations, Mr Dag Hammarskjöld. German issue and the test ban treaty. As Undén then asked Gromyko why Khrus- is evident from the recording of the talks, hchev did not carry out his visit to Sweden, Gromyko found his Swedish counterpart Gromyko answered: We had our reasons, somewhat too optimistic as to the détente and with that the conversation ceased. implications of the test ban treaty. Both Foreign Ministers were, in fact, rather In the official communiqué from Foreign austere personalities.2 Minister Nilsson’s visit to Moscow it was In a few years, after the Cuban Missile noted that “Foreign Minister Nilsson refer- Crisis had been settled in 1962, the interna- red to the fact that Sweden intends to pur- tional climate improved again. The partial sue its traditional policy of neutrality. The nuclear test ban was concluded in 1963. In two parties agreed that this policy constitu- the same year, in May, the new Swedish tes a contribution to the calm and security Foreign Minister Torsten Nilsson paid a in Northern Europe”. In the communiqué visit to Moscow for talks with Foreign from Foreign Minister Gromyko’s visit Minister Gromyko. He was also received to Stockholm this point was formulated by Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev to slightly differently: “At the talks it was 2 The memoirs of Ambassador Wilhelm Wachtmeister, Stockholm 1996 6-2009 60 6-2009 KUNGL KRIGSVETENSKAPSAKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR OCH TIDSKRIFT once more confirmed that the traditional cident occurred at the private dinner that Swedish policy of neutrality constitutes Prime Minister Tage Erlander hosted for an important contribution to the calm the Soviet leader and the top members of and security in Northern Europe”. Thank the Soviet delegation at his official summer God, that we have now left this theology residence, Harpsund, on June 25. While behind us. I was in fact instrumental in drinking Swedish aquavit and Russian persuading the Swedish Government in vodka, Erlander asked Torsten Nilsson 1978 that we should forego the practice of to start singing, which is customary in bilateral communiqués in connection with Sweden when drinking aquavit. Nilsson official visits. was a good singer, which challenged In his memoirs, Andrei Gromyko writes Khrushchev, and soon the two socialist po- about his visit to Stockholm in March liticians were competing in revolutionary 1964. His greatest impression seems to songs. At the end, Khrushchev exclaimed have been the meeting with the King of to Erlander: Sweden, about which he writes: Let us switch Foreign Ministers! You My talk with King Gustav Adolphus, the can have Gromyko! I will take Torsten grandfather of the present King Charles Gustav XVI, left a special impression on Nilsson. He is better because he can also me. I was met at in the royal palace by sing. a tall, middle-aged man, one of the few 3 European monarchs to have stayed firmly Erlander jokingly agreed… on his throne. He was a cultivated man, his Khrushchev’s roguish treatment of special interest being archaeology, in which Gromyko at Harpsund, reminds one of he said he tried to keep up with all the latest the story when Khrushchev said of Gro- findings. myko: “I am especially interested in archaeological literature, including Russian publications” If I ask him to remove his trousers and sit he said. “Perhaps you would send me some on a block of ice he will sit there until the of the latest works?” ice has melted. In due course, I sent him some books from Prime Minister Erlander paid a return Moscow. visit to Moscow in June 1965 accompa- As Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Gro- nied by his young future successor, Olof myko participated in Nikita Khrushchev’s Palme. I was then serving at our embassy official visit to Sweden 22 – 27 June 1964, in Moscow and met the two delegations, as did I on a low level. One amusing in- including Andrei Gromyko, at receptions 3 The memoirs of Ambassador Gunnar Jarring, Stockholm 1989 6-2009 61 KUNGL KRIGSVETENSKAPSAKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR OCH TIDSKRIFT but did not participate in the talks. What I Soviet Union by King Charles XVI Gustav remember, inter alia, from my first years and Queen Silvia. Gromyko writes in his in Moscow is that I made use of the Dip- memoirs that lomatic Encyclopaedia edited by Foreign the King’s visit was to some extent a land- Minister Gromyko. It was a useful work mark in Soviet – Swedish relations, as it of its time. showed that Sweden was genuinely interes- Another work co-edited by Andrei Gro- ted in developing a businesslike relationship myko is the “History of Soviet Foreign with her eastern neighbour. Policy”, published in 1973. It contains an assessment of Sweden that is both positive Andrei Gromyko’s last personal contact and negative: with Sweden was in January 1984 when he attended the important Stockholm Confe- The Soviet Union maintains friendly and rence on Confidence Building Measures, good-neighbour relations also with Swe- Security and Disarmament in Europe. In den, the third neutral country in Europe. his book, he relates the positive talks he Underlying these relations is the mutual again had with the King. It is worthy of desire to strengthen peace and international security, especially in Northern Europe… thought that the old Soviet professional Some circles in Sweden disrelish the time- that Andrei Gromyko was had such fond tested policy of neutrality, which has won memories of Swedish royalty. respect throughout the world and has the In Stockholm, Gromyko also had sub- Soviet Union’s full understanding. Under stantive talks with Prime Minister Olof pressure from these circles attempts are Palme. In a personal remark on the murder being made in Stockholm to find the ways of Palme he adds: and means of entering the Common Mar- ket… In Sweden they have every reason to fear that their country’s membership of the Of Olof Palme we sadly now have to speak EEC would seriously limit its sovereignty in the past tense. He was killed on 1 March and, consequently, make it impossible to 1986 by a terrorist. There were reports that pursue a neutral foreign and domestic po- suggested he may have been the victim of licy independently of the Common Market a right-wing organisation that could not and NATO.