“Swedish Kennedy”: how Prime Minister Palme, who wanted friendship with the USSR, was killed

Since 1814, Sweden has consistently adhered to a policy of neutrality. Stockholm managed to maintain this principle even during the First and Second World Wars. Although even in this neutral status, the Swedes managed to fight against us. In 1940, during the Soviet-Finnish war, a whole corps was sent to help the Finns, and in 1941, immediately after the German invasion of the USSR, a battalion was formed that joined the Finnish troops. But this participation of the country in the conflict was not considered, only volunteers fought.

Sweden’s keen desire to join NATO now definitely puts an end to the history of neutrality. The only successful Swedish politician who was in favor of improving relations with the Soviet Union was Olof Palme. But on February 28, 1986, he was killed in the center of Stockholm.

Why were the Swedish police unable to catch the criminal in hot pursuit? Who really could have killed Palme? And what versions of the crime were put forward at different times? Talks about it program “Unknown History” with Boris Ryzhov on REN TV.

Sweden’s entry into NATO

Residents of Sweden came out to protest against joining NATO. The government single-handedly decided to join the North Atlantic Alliance and refused to hold a referendum. But many Swedes do not agree with this policy of the authorities.

“If we join NATO, the situation will only escalate. This will only create even more tension in the world. The money that we now spend on military spending, we could spend on something more necessary for all of us”– says the opponent of Sweden’s accession to NATO, Helen Berg.

Father of Swedish socialism

Today it is almost impossible to believe, but in the 80s of the last century, the leadership of Sweden headed for rapprochement with the USSR. An unthinkable move for a Western bloc country. In power then was Prime Minister Olof Palme, who is called the father of Swedish socialism.

“In his social policy, he advocated maximum equality, as far as possible in a capitalist country. He took away part of the income from all people with super-incomes and distributed it to the poor or the needy”– said the historian, political scientist, social scientist, member of the Russian Military Historical Society Sergey Sopelev.

Olof Palme was born into a wealthy family, but behaved like a man of the people: he moved around the city on public transport and without security. The Swedish prime minister not only broke the usual stereotypes about the behavior of the head of state, but also carried out quite radical reforms.

“When Olof Palme came to power, he relied on the transition to a new state of the economic model. He was the first to feel the changes and relied on the modernization of the Swedish economic model, the transition to high technologies, mechanical engineering, electronics”– said Vitaly Danilov, director of the Center for Applied Analysis of International Transformations of the Peoples’ Friendship University named after P. Lumumba.

Shot twice with a revolver

On February 28, 1986, Swedish television was interrupted by an emergency newscast. The people of the country were told the tragic news that Prime Minister Olof Palme had been killed.

“Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot dead in the center of Stockholm. The criminal managed to escape, the police are working at the crime scene”the journalists said.

On that fateful day, Olof Palme and his wife Lisbeth were returning from the cinema, there were no bodyguards with them. Suddenly, a tall man approached them and fired twice with a revolver: once at Palma, the second at his wife.

“All this happened at the intersection of the noisy Sveavagen and Tunnelgatan streets. Later, the criminal very quickly ran towards the tunnel, went down the hill and got lost among the ancient city. He was seen by about 40 people”Danilov said.

Olof Palme died on the way to the hospital. His wife Lisbeth, despite being wounded and shocked, was able to describe the killer quite accurately: a middle-aged man in a cloak with a turned up collar and a knitted hat. Signs of the criminal were sent to all police stations, but it was not possible to detain him in hot pursuit.

“The events of that night shocked Swedish society very much. The fact is that since 1792 there have been no such resonant crimes in Sweden after the death of King Gustav. As the Swedish newspapers wrote the next morning, Sweden lost her virginity”– the expert shared the details.

The most likely motives for the murder

An investigation has begun. The first version of the police: the murder of Palme is the revenge of members of the PKK (an organization banned in Turkey). Olof Palme’s cabinet declared the party a terrorist organization, and eight of its most active members were expelled from the country.

“They had the real, most weighty motive, and they began to check in a large number of Kurds. 20 members of the PKK were arrested. The investigation checked everyone inside and out, and due to lack of evidence, they were soon released”said the historian.

The next version of the investigation – Olof Palme could eliminate the CIA. The Swedish Prime Minister not only criticized the Vietnam War, he called the US aggression a genocide and compared the actions of the American army with the actions of the Nazis during World War II. Palme’s statements led to a diplomatic scandal: Washington expelled the Swedish ambassador from the country, and Stockholm expelled the American one.

“You can recall the words of Henry Kissinger, who at that time was the head of the State Department: “We will not allow anyone to accuse us of Nazism. We do not forgive anyone for this. “And, most likely, in many ways these actions could serve as an impetus for a special operation against Olof Palme”said the interlocutor. REN TV.

American intelligence had another motive for eliminating Olof Palme, much more significant than wounded pride. The Palme government set a course for rapprochement with the Soviet Union. The Cold War was on, the US and the USSR were fighting for spheres of influence, and the White House could not allow Sweden to move from the Western bloc to the Eastern one.

“The well-known American documentary filmmaker Allan Frankovich wrote about this. Through his own channels, when he was creating a film about the secret operations of the CIA, he accidentally completely came up with the version of the murder of Olof Palme”Danilov said.

Allan Frankovich’s Texas informant claimed to have evidence of CIA involvement in the assassination of Olof Palme. Frankovich decided to investigate and even found sponsors for the filming of a film about the assassination of the Swedish Prime Minister.

“Unfortunately, he had a heart attack in Houston. The doctors could not save this journalist. In principle, here too we see the obvious role of the CIA”the expert stressed.

Why were the Swedish police so slow?

Despite dozens of suspects, Swedish investigators have not brought charges against anyone for two years. The surprising sluggishness of the police has become a reason for rumors and speculation. Some journalists ventured to suggest that Olof Palme was eliminated by the special services themselves.

“The Interception plan was not announced, exits from Stockholm were not blocked, railway stations and airports were not blocked. As the newspapers wrote, “the police missed the capture of the criminal in hot pursuit”– said a member of the RVIO.

But why would the Swedish secret services eliminate Olof Palme? The fact is that Palme was a supporter of general disarmament and a reduction in defense spending and law enforcement agencies. In addition, according to one version, shortly before his death, he learned about the machinations of one of the arms companies and intended to publicly expose it.

“The Swedish company, which manufactures artillery systems, was supposed to sell weapons to various countries, including India. And here there was a very powerful scandal, which was supposed to be a bribe to the generals of the Indian state”Danilov explained.

In 1988, the Swedish police arrested Christer Pettersson, an alcoholic and drug addict with a rich criminal past. He had 18 prison terms to his credit. Lisbeth Palme identified Pettersson as her husband’s killer, but there were no traces of gunpowder on the suspect’s clothes.

“Pettersson is not suitable for the role of a criminal, because he had no obvious motives for committing this crime. Yes, he was known in the criminal world, he was a stable drug addict. But this person could hardly carry out an attack and kill a person”the expert stressed.

How Tarkovsky could be connected to the Palme murder

For decades, police, journalists and amateur detectives have been investigating the death of Olof Palme. Versions were put forward one more incredible than the other. According to one of them, director Andrei Tarkovsky was involved in the death of the prime minister. According to this theory, Tarkovsky and Palme were well acquainted, and the politician asked the director to stage his murder.

“Andrey Tarkovsky, shortly before the murder, was filming the film “Sacrifice”, and part of the filming took place in Stockholm. A very important episode was filmed not far from the crime scene. And they said that this could also have something to do with the murder. The version was also comprehensively considered, and also dropped”– said Sopelev.

Found the killer after 34 years

But 34 years later, after the death of Olof Palme, law enforcement agencies in Sweden unexpectedly announced: the killer of the prime minister has been identified.

“The killer of Olof Palme is Stig Engström, who committed suicide 20 years ago. Unfortunately, the collected evidence is not enough to prove it in court. But due to the death of the main suspect, the case is closed”– said the prosecutor, head of the preliminary investigation into the murder of Olof Palme Christer Petersson.

Designer Stig Engström was originally involved in the case as a witness, but his testimony differed significantly from that of other eyewitnesses. He mentioned details that only the killer could know. But the investigators did not attach any importance to this and decided that he simply craved fame.

“He described how the witnesses were standing around, who was wearing what – a long coat, mentions a cap. But at that moment no one paid attention and the investigation ignored it. And hence this famous phrase “apparently, our police do not know how to put together a puzzle “the political scientist said.

The investigation continued for another nine years, and as a result, the prosecutor declared that Stig Engstrom was the killer. The family of Olof Palme agreed with these conclusions, but the relatives of Engstrem, who by that time had committed suicide for 11 years, did not. They claim that the Stig was too timid to commit crime.

The assassination of Olof Palme is often compared to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Despite the fact that the case is officially closed, more and more new versions of what happened still continue to appear in the press.

Different versions of historical events, amazing episodes of history, little-known facts and interesting theories – study all this and much more in the Unknown History program with Boris Ryzhov on REN TV.