- Stig Wennerström
Infobox Military Person
name=Stig Wennerström
lived=August 22 1906 -March 22 2006
placeofbirth=Stockholm ,Sweden
placeofdeath=Danderyd ,Sweden
caption=
nickname=
allegiance=Swedish Armed Forces
serviceyears=1948-1963
rank=Colonel
commands=
unit=
battles=
awards=
laterwork=
portrayedby=Stig Erik Constans Wennerström (
August 22 1906 –March 22 2006 ) was acolonel in theSwedish Air Force who was convicted oftreason in 1964.During the 1950s, he betrayed just about every Swedish air defence plan, as well as the entire Saab "Draken" fighter jet project, to the
Soviet Union . He also worked as amilitary attaché inWashington, DC , where he was very useful to Russian Military Intelligence agency, theGRU . He also served in the same role inMoscow .There were two highly placed Swedish spies working for the GRU at this timeFact|date=February 2007. One was given the code name "Örnen" ("The Eagle")—later revealed to be Wennerström. The other spy was called "Getingen" ("The Wasp"). The identity of "Getingen" has never been fully resolved.
As early as 1943,
SÄPO , the Swedish Security Service, suspected that Wennerström was working for Germany and in 1947 there were indications that he had connections with the Soviet Union, but the suspicions couldn't be provedFact|date=February 2007. Thecounter-intelligence operation centered on him was intensified towards the end of the 1950s and his household maid was recruited bySÄPO . In June 1963 the maid reported that she had found some film rolls hidden in the attic. The films contained pictures of secret documents and Wennerström was arrested a few weeks later.Wennerström was initially sentenced to life in prison, but in 1972 the Swedish government changed the sentence to 20 years, despite the Commander-in-Chief still considering him to be a high security risk. [cite book |last= |first=|title=Aktuellt 1973|year=1973|publisher=K G Bertmarks förlag | id = ISSN: 0343-6993] He was
parole d in 1974 after serving a total of 10 years; the norm in Sweden at the time was to release prisoners after they had served half their sentences.ee also
*
Stig Bergling External links
* [http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/International/nyhetssidor/artikel.asp?ProgramID=2054&Nyheter=&artikel=825475 English language obituary at Sveriges Radio International]
References
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