The government has classified large parts of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s congratulatory letter to Donald Trump, which was sent after he won the American presidential election.

The congratulatory letter was sent to Trump the day after the election, last Wednesday, but it has only now been released to the media that requested access to it.

Apart from the first two sentences in the letter, the rest has been classified. A large black box covers the rest of the text.

Harmful information

The Government Offices argue that it may be harmful if the Swedish people have access to the text covered by the black box.

“Certain information in the attached document concerns Sweden’s relations with another state or otherwise concerns another state or intergovernmental organization. It can be assumed that it disrupts Sweden’s international relations or otherwise harms the country if the information is disclosed,” the justification reads.

Aftonbladet was the first to draw attention to the classified letter. The newspaper notes that Fredrik Reinfeldt’s letter to Barack Obama after his victory in 2012 was released in its entirety, but not Stefan Löfven’s congratulatory letter to Donald Trump in 2016.