Russian activities in Baltic Sea: Sweden increases military readiness

Status: 15.01.2022 00:21

Russian troop movements on the border with Ukraine have alarmed NATO. Sweden also reacted to Russian ships in the Baltic Sea and had soldiers patrol the island of Gotland.

In view of increased “Russian activities” in the Baltic Sea, Sweden has sent several armored vehicles onto the streets of the island of Gotland and had soldiers patrol it. Around ten armored combat vehicles and dozens of soldiers were on Friday in the small port town of Visby, the military said. A few days earlier, three ships of the Russian Navy entered the Baltic Sea through the straits of the Great Belt in Denmark.

“The armed forces are taking the necessary measures to protect Sweden’s integrity and demonstrate our ability to protect Sweden and Swedish interests,” Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told AFP. The increased patrols on Gotland are a sign that Sweden is taking the situation seriously and “will not be taken by surprise,” Hultqvist told the TT news agency. The island of Gotland is strategically located in the Baltic Sea – a good 300 kilometers from the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.

No Swedish “demonstration of power”

The Swedish military said on Thursday evening that the units would be used “to reinforce operations in several locations” as “Russian activities in the Baltic Sea increase”. The head of operations of the Swedish armed forces, Michael Claesson, however, denied that it was a targeted Swedish “demonstration of power”.

He told AFP the units were part of the force already stationed on the island. It is a “natural way to adjust the military presence”. Some of the actions taken by the military would be visible and others would not, Claesson said. “We will operate in different ways in different places in Sweden.”

Major General Lena Hallin, head of the Swedish military intelligence service ST, had previously said that the country was far from a normal security situation. “The trend has been towards a serious security crisis in Europe for some time, and it has accelerated in recent months.” It is an illusion that the tensions in Europe are only temporary.

Sweden works closely with NATO

While Sweden is not a NATO member, it works closely with the Alliance. Russia recently warned the country of “serious consequences” if it joins the alliance. Since Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014, Stockholm has ramped up its defenses again. In 2017, it reintroduced conscription.

In view of a massive Russian troop deployment on the border with Ukraine, the West is concerned that Russia is currently preparing to invade the neighboring country. The Kremlin vehemently denies this.

source site