It was in an interview with Sweden Rock Magazine in 2016, a year after the band performed a criticized gig on the Crimean peninsula, that Sabaton's bassist Pär Sundström expressed that Crimea was occupied before 2014.

"If you go to Sevastopol, you hardly feel that they feel occupied, quite the opposite.

They have been occupied for years only because they ended up on the wrong side when the border was drawn between the Soviet Union and Ukraine.

All these years they have felt like Russians but treated like a small piece of Ukraine.”

During the interview with the newspaper, Sundström also said that "the future outlook that Sevastopol now radiates is exactly the opposite of what we here at home may have been tricked into believing". 

So it is this statement that means that the band is now at risk of losing the award.

The association: Not aware of the statement

Vetenskap og Folkbildning tells SVT that they were not aware of Pär Sundström's statement when they appointed Sabaton as this year's public educator.

During Tuesday evening, or during Wednesday, the association's board will gather to decide on the new information, and whether Sabaton can keep the award or whether it should be withdrawn.

- We are an association for science, and science includes reconsidering whether you gain new knowledge, says Dan Katz, press contact at Vetenskap och Folkbildning, in SVT's Aktuellt on Tuesday evening.

Was praised for the way the story was portrayed

In its justification for Sabaton receiving the award, Vetenskap og Folkbildning writes that it is due to "the fact that they present historical events in a good and accurate way".

The band is particularly noted for its latest album "The War to End All Wars", which was released in 2022.

In the album, the First World War is depicted from different aspects, something that raises interest in history, the association says: 

"Thus, for many years, the band has made people interested in history and better understand history as a science in a way that no one usually expects from musical artists," the association writes further in the justification.

SVT has asked Sabaton for a comment on the statement.