Why does it have to be Sweden?

At last, something Putin is doing has a positive side effect.

Apparently, the Russians have been stealing speed cameras in Sweden, to use their radars and processors in their homemade drones. So far over a hundred have been nicked, at a cost of just under £20,000 each.

That way the Russians get around sanctions by using the expertise they have lovingly nurtured since the country got its name. Stealing has always pervaded Russian society at every level.

In a well-known story, Alexander I once asked his courtier, the historian Karamzin, what state officials were doing in the provinces. “Ils volent, sire,” was the reply (“Thieving, your majesty”).

In those days, a pandemic of theft stopped at the office of the head of state, the Tsar. Since all of Russia was his patrimonial estate, he had no need to nick things: that would have been stealing from himself. These days, no such barrier exists.

After all, most members of the Russian government, including Putin himself, have come up through the ranks of not only the KGB but also organised crime. “He who doesn’t steal, neither shall he eat” is the proverb they live by. So if they can’t get those processors in any other way, ripping them off is their natural reaction.

Granted, they’ve been buying drones from Iran, but that supply isn’t unlimited. Iran is also under sanctions after all.

So far so good. But I do have a minor quibble. What have Swedish drivers done to deserve the benefit of driving freely, without invasive cameras clocking their speed? What have they got that we haven’t?

It’s not as if their need is greater than ours. For example, every time I go to the Channel ports, my journey includes about 10 miles of the A3. That little stretch features seven speed cameras, preventing smooth progress and making me slam on the brakes every couple of minutes. Just think how much those blasted things have cost me in brake shoes alone.

I’m sure our devices are every bit as sophisticated as those found in Sweden, and I recommend them to Vlad wholeheartedly. To save him time I’d even be prepared to draw a camera location map for the A3.

Actually, forget that. The idea did sound attractive until I remembered what those stolen components do. They go into drones, which then do something else that comes naturally to the Russians: wanton, senseless mass murder.

On balance, I’d rather those A3 cameras stayed in place, keeping my speed down to a risible 50 mph. Meanwhile, let’s chalk the theft of those Swedish cameras down as yet another crime Putin’s gang has committed. The list is long – and getting longer by the minute.