Russia’s FSB says a Swedish national was detained after serving under contract from January to June 2026 in a drone unit of the 24th Separate Assault Battalion of Ukraine’s armed forces. The service alleges he entered Russia while claiming he wanted to join the Russian army, with the aim of carrying out sabotage.
In a video released by the FSB, the detainee gives his name as Freddy Mikael Ståhlkrantz Lindholm. The outlet Agentstvo reported a February 2026 video from Ukraine’s Foreign Recruitment Center in which a man resembling him says he came from Stockholm and decided to join Ukraine’s International Legion.
Journalists also cited a Ukrainian court decision of 22 June under which a full namesake was fined 17,000 hryvnias, about 380 dollars, for appearing at a military unit with signs of alcohol intoxication. A document shown by the FSB indicates that two days earlier he had been dismissed for failing his probationary period.
Swedish broadcaster SVT spoke with Lindholm’s relatives, who confirmed that he took part in fighting on Ukraine’s side and spent time there. One relative said he came home after about six months and recently left for Ukraine again; the relative did not know what he did after that return.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he so far had only media reports and that Swedish authorities intend to clarify the detention. In Russia, a criminal case has been opened over illegal border crossing. The FSB is also weighing charges of mercenarism and participation in a terrorist organisation.
On 9 October, after Mikhail Zvinchuk, founder of the pro-war project Rybar, was detained in Montenegro, Russian Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev said Russia might replenish its exchange fund with citizens of European countries and the United States. Zvinchuk, his wife and three other project employees were later expelled from Montenegro to Russia.