In mid-September, the heads of the Nordic coast guard organisations met in Karlskrona. The Coast Guard led an exchange of experiences on challenges linked to hybrid threats and the so-called shadow fleet.
The Ukrainian coast guard, the Maritime Guard, was prepared for conventional warfare. It had trained and had cooperation agreements with the Navy. But everything was thrown overboard when Russia attacked on a large scale in 2022. The reality turned out to be completely different.
The Ukrainian coast guard works tirelessly, with strong assistance from the Swedish Coast Guard. At the end of February, a delegation including the Coast Guard's Director-General Lena Lindgren Schelin visited Ukraine.
This spring, the Coast Guard's fisheries inspectors have taken part in international fisheries checks on board the EFCA vessel Ocean Guardian.
Last week, the Swedish Coast Guard took part in the joint EU operation EMPACT Trident. The operation targets organised and serious international crime and was led by the Swedish police. During the operation, over 33,000 people and 22,000 vehicles were checked, mainly in the Baltic Sea region.\u00A0
On assignment for Frontex, the Swedish Coast Guard has been present in Lampedusa during the winter months, in cooperation with the Maritime Police (Sjöpolisen) in Region Väst. The Swedish crews took part in 27 maritime search and rescue operations and rescued a total of 933 people during the season. In the corresponding season last year, there were 58 operations and 1,607 people rescued.
Last week, the Swedish Coast Guard held a joint environmental rescue exercise with Raja, the Finnish Border Guard, off the Högakustenbron bridge. KBV 181 took part together with the Finnish patrol vessel RV91 and the environmental rescue vessel Linja from the state-owned company Arctia.
On 25–27 August 2026, Sweden hosted Helcom's annual Balex exercise in Sigtuna. Together, the participants represent a large part of the combined specialist expertise in oil spill response in the Baltic Sea region. The exercise was organised jointly by the Swedish Coast Guard, the Swedish Agency for Civil Defence (Myndigheten för civilt försvar) and the County Administrative Board of Stockholm (Länsstyrelsen i Stockholm).
