( CNN) Sweden has moved to reintroduce conscription “as a response to the new security situation” in Europe, the country's defense minister told CNN Thursday.
A government act on Thursday reintroduced compulsory military service in the country for the first time since 2010, and for the first time on a gender-equal basis.
Peter Hultqvist, Sweden's minister of defense, cited Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014 as one of the triggers for the decision.
