Swedish authorities continue to increase military preparedness on Gotland on Saturday. Professor at the Defense College in Sweden believes that the Russians’ demonstration of power in the Baltic Sea is aimed at Swedish NATO cooperation.
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The small town of Visby on Gotland has in recent days become a strategic point in Sweden’s territorial defense.
Down by the harbor, several tanks have rolled in while heavily armed soldiers patrol the streets.
After six Russian warships sailed into the Baltic Sea, Swedish authorities are stepping up military preparedness.
– It’s a little disturbing, that’s it, says Visby resident Gullevi to Aftonbladet.
– Not only because the military comes here, but because the world situation is as it is, she continues.
Stairs up on Gotland
A military transport plane with more than a hundred Swedish soldiers landed on Friday in Visby on Gotland. In addition to the soldiers, there will also be several military vehicles been transported to the island.
On Saturday, a ferry arrived at Visby harbor with further military reinforcements. The redevelopment of the city has received mixed reactions from the inhabitants.
–The escalation takes place after a week with several ominous pushes from the Russian side.
On Wednesday, three Russian warships sailed into the Baltic Sea via the Danish straits, and on Friday night they increased the number to six warships. On Friday, the websites of the Ukrainian authorities were subjected to a massive cyber attack. “Be afraid and expect the worst,” the hackers wrote.
–No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but several experts point out that Russia is behind it.
– It is clear that there is a risk. An attack on Sweden, just as we say in the total defense decision in the Riksdag, can not be ruled out. We have a tense situation that is not good in Europe today where the European security system is being questioned, said Minister of Defense Peter Hultqvist on Saturday.
Excludes Swedish NATO membership
One of the demands of Russia is that NATO provide a guarantee that they will not include new member states in the alliance, something NATO has flatly rejected.
Sweden’s National Assembly decided just over a year ago that the government should introduce an option that gives Sweden the opportunity to join NATO if they wish.
But Minister of Defense Peter Hultqvist denies that Sweden has plans for this this time.
– If, in a tense security policy situation, one begins to formulate oneself in new ways about how one wants to handle the military freedom of alliance, then one creates question marks and is in a slippery slope, he said.
– Demonstrates strength
Professor at the Swedish Defense College, Kjell Engelbrekt, leaves little doubt about what the escalation of the Armed Forces on Gotland is about.
– The main thing is to demonstrate the Swedish will to defend. There should be no doubt that Sweden will defend any part of its territory, says the researcher who has transatlantic security as one of his main areas.
Gotland is strategically located in the Baltic Sea and gives the Swedish Armed Forces a good overview and the opportunity to have control over what is going on in the area.
The fact that Russia is sailing in with six warships is mostly about making a mark, the researcher believes.
– I am not sure that they want any confrontation, but they demonstrate that they have the opportunity to do so, Engelbrekt says.
Specifically which vessels are used can also tell something about the message from the Russian side, he believes
Landing vessel is a symbol of the takeover of a territory. It can not be a coincidence that half a dozen of these appear in the Baltic Sea.
NATO membership
The professor says that there is a connection to Swedish and Finnish NATO cooperation in the situation that is taking place in the Baltic Sea.
“Through its membership of the European Union, Sweden has committed itself to increased military assistance to the member states,” says Engelbrekt.
He also points out that in the Swedish National Assembly there is almost a majority for Swedish NATO membership.
“Russia will signal that it will not accept any interventions or reinforcements, and convince countries such as Sweden and Finland not to allow NATO reinforcements in those areas,” Engelbrekt said.
He considers the markings in the Baltic Sea area primarily as a Russian scare tactic, and believes that residents of Gotland have little reason to worry.
– A preparation to act along the Russian-Ukrainian border, however, is far more uncertain, he says.
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