SWEDEN — a nation that hasn’t been in a fight for more than 200 years — has been issued a chilling warning by a top general: expect World War III “within a few years”.

“The global situation we are experiencing and which is also made clear by the strategic decision leads to the conclusion that we could be at war within a few years,” the statement reads. “For us in the army we have to, with all force we can muster, implement the political decisions.”

Major General Anders Brännström made the stark statement in a brochure being distributed among attendees of an armed forces conference next week.

It’s since sparked a storm of local controversy.

Is such a threat real? Is Europe strong enough to deter it?

Can Sweden defend itself?

General Brännström wrote that increasing tensions in the region had caused a shift in Sweden’s military strategic thinking. No longer is it gearing towards assisting international policing operations. It’s now focused on the “capability of armed battle against a qualified opponent”.

Sweden’s military was now optimising its armed forces for “a threshold effect against military attacks and ultimately defend Sweden”, he said.

Sweden has historically maintained a neutral stance, particularly in both World Wars.

In recent years, however, it has been seriously pondering joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) as it strengthens its ties within the European Union.

Russia has reacted strongly to this suggestion — probing Swedish waters with spy submarines and combat jets as a signal of its displeasure.

Sweden’s intelligence agency Sapo last year published a report stating that the biggest espionage threat against the country was now Russia.

“We should be aware that we are continuously being exposed to intelligence gathering and campaigns. We also know that areas in our region, the Baltic and increasingly the Arctic, constitute areas of friction between Russia and the West,” General Brännström told another military conference earlier this month.

Russia’s recent bellicose behaviour in Ukraine and threatening posture against the small Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — once part of the former Soviet Union — has only strengthened Sweden’s interest in joining the western alliance.

A poll late last year put 41 per cent of the population as now in favour of joining NATO, with 39 per cent against. Five years ago, only 23 per cent supported the idea.