Sven Hirdman

Sven Hirdman was born Henrik Sven Hirdman on 28 September 1939 in Stavanger, Norway. His father, Einar Hirdman (1916 to 1999), was a lector, and his mother, Charlotte Schledt (1906 to 1966), was a language teacher and interpreter. On his mother's side his grandparents were the Swiss Emélie Schledt and the German Fritz Schledt; on his father's side they were the Swedes Gunnar and Maj Hirdman. He had two sisters, Eili and Yvonne. Yvonne Hirdman became a leading Swedish historian and in 2010 published Den röda grevinnan (The Red Countess), a widely discussed book about their mother.

In 1958 Hirdman did his military service at the Swedish Army Language School (Tolkskolan), the Swedish Armed Forces interpreter school. He then studied Slavic languages and political science at Uppsala University and received a Master of Social Sciences (politices magister) in 1963, with international relations as his major field.

Hirdman entered the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1963 and served at the embassies in Moscow and London during the 1960s. From 1969 to 1972 he was deputy director of SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. He was embassy counsellor in Beijing from 1972 to 1976 and head of division at the ministry from 1976 to 1979.

From 1979 to 1982 he was state secretary at the Ministry of Defence, working under defence ministers Eric Krönmark (Moderate Party) and Torsten Gustafsson (Centre Party). After the Fälldin government left office he became ambassador to Israel in Tel Aviv, with side accreditation to Cyprus in Nicosia, from 1983 to 1987. From 1987 to 1994 he was War Materials Inspector and head of the National Swedish War Materials Inspectorate, Sweden's arms export control authority.

In 1994 he was appointed ambassador in Moscow, succeeding Örjan Berner, and served until 2004, when Johan Molander succeeded him. He was simultaneously accredited to Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan (to 1997), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, and for his last four years he was dean of the Moscow diplomatic corps. Russian Wikipedia records that during the night of 10 to 11 December 1997 he took part in negotiations over the release of Swedish embassy trade official Jan-Olof Nyström, who had been taken hostage and was freed when FSB officer Anatoly Savelyev voluntarily exchanged himself.

From 2005 to 2011 he was Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps at the Foreign Ministry, introducing new foreign envoys in Stockholm. He chaired Transparency International Sweden in 2008 and 2009 and had assignments for industry.

In 1959 Hirdman married Marianne Ljungqvist (born 1938), daughter of John Ljungqvist and Hanna (née Isberg). They had three daughters, Annika, Viveka and Tonika, and the family's death notice lists a large circle of grandchildren. In later life he lived in Bromma, Stockholm, where he recorded his final major interview in May 2025.

Hirdman was a diplomat of the old school who believed that understanding an adversary was the core of diplomacy. In retirement he became one of the most outspoken critics of Sweden's turn away from military non-alignment. He argued against Swedish NATO membership, set out his case in a 2015 Dagens Nyheter article on ten myths and misunderstandings about Swedish security policy, and later opposed the Defence Cooperation Agreement with the United States. He described Russia's 2022 full scale invasion of Ukraine as an outdated, unnecessary and horrific war that brought only misery to both Ukraine and Russia, while maintaining that a ceasefire and negotiated settlement should be the priority. He warned that Sweden had entered what he called a war psychosis without historical perspective, and urged Sweden to lead on diplomacy and confidence building measures. His views made him a controversial figure, admired by advocates of neutrality and criticised by those who saw him as too sympathetic to Moscow.

Hirdman's career spanned the Cold War, the end of the Soviet Union and the Putin era, and his decade as ambassador in Moscow, ending as dean of the diplomatic corps, gave him an unusually long view of post Soviet Russia. His books, especially Ryssland och svensk säkerhetspolitik and De hemliga rapporterna från Moskva, are first hand records of Swedish Russia policy. After his death his sister Yvonne Hirdman told SVT she was very proud of her brother, and commentators across the Swedish debate, from supporters of neutrality to his critics, marked his passing.

Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences (Kungliga Krigsvetenskapsakademien), elected 1990. Order of Friendship, Russia, awarded 14 October 2004 for his contribution to Russian Swedish relations (per Russian Wikipedia). Order of Danaker, Kyrgyzstan, awarded 1 July 2004 (per Russian Wikipedia). H.M. The King's Medal in gold, 12th size, on the ribbon of the Order of the Seraphim (per Russian Wikipedia).

Sveriges vapenexportpolitik (UD informerar, 1989 and 1993). Russia's role in Europe (Carnegie Moscow Center essay, 2006). Contribution to Säkerhetspolitik och historia, a festschrift for Krister Wahlbäck (2007). Ryssland och svensk säkerhetspolitik: 50 år i utrikespolitisk tjänst (Hjalmarson & Högberg, 2015). Sverige i stormaktspolitikens mitt: Om diplomati och utrikespolitik (Hjalmarson & Högberg, 2017), an expanded edition adding reflections on China, Israel and the EU. De hemliga rapporterna från Moskva: från Ryssland 1994 till kriget i Ukraina 2022 (Santérus, 2023). He appeared frequently in public debates, lectures, podcasts and on Sveriges Radio, including P1's Söndagsintervjun in 2022.

In 2015 it attracted attention in Sweden that Hirdman sat on the board of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), chaired by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov; IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad had also sat on the same board. Hirdman, who sat on the board until 2015, rejected suggestions that he had been compromised, calling the criticism guilt by association. His opposition to NATO membership and his views on the causes of the war in Ukraine also drew sharp criticism from parts of the Swedish and Finnish debate.

Sven Hirdman died on Friday 9 October 2026 in Stockholm at the age of 87. Dissidentklubben shared news of his death on 15 October, and Dagens Nyheter, SVT, Expressen and Altinget reported it on 18 and 19 October. The cause of death was not made public. The family's death notice in Dagens Nyheter thanked ASIH Bromma and Aurora Hemtjänst for their care and suggested gifts to Médecins Sans Frontières (Läkare Utan Gränser). The funeral was announced for Wednesday 28 October 2026 at 14.00 at Kungsholms kyrka in Stockholm, followed by a memorial gathering.