Sweden 'Open to Reinforcing Defenses' on Baltic Island of Gotland, Says PM
© AP Photo / James Brooks
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After Helsinki and Stockholm joined NATO, abandoning their long-standing neutrality, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov deplored the loss of “decades of good neighborliness." He added that Russia’s response would be introducing additional systems that will be “appropriate to the threats that could appear on the territory of Finland and Sweden.”
Despite just recently becoming an official member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on March 7, Sweden is already getting in line with the Western-driven narrative alleging that “Russia is a threat”.
The Scandinavian nation is “open to reinforcing defenses” on the Baltic Sea’s strategic island of Gotland, according to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
“That is one obvious thing to be discussed with our new NATO allies… Gotland has always been important . . . that will be one of the many things to discuss,” Kristersson was quoted as telling the Financial Times.
The Nordic country’s largest island of Gotland is lodged between Sweden and Latvia in the Baltic Sea, and is located approximately 330 kilometers from Kaliningrad, where Russia's Baltic Fleet is based.
Kristersson said that Sweden currently has a “small” military presence on Gotland. The regiment on the Baltic island, introduced by Sweden in 2018, now has an estimated 370 soldiers.
US troops on Gotland beach following amphibious landing drill, part of BALTOPS annual Baltic Sea military exercise in Tofta, Gotland, Sweden on Wednesday, June, 7, 2022.
© AP Photo / James Brooks
“There are quite a few things in terms of how to deploy our resources, where to focus the most. And obviously everything to do with the Baltic Sea is such an obvious candidate. That goes in terms of presence on Gotland, but also in terms of surveillance, in terms of submarine capabilities,” added the Swedish Prime Minister.
❗️ #NATO countries are trying to frighten their populations with an imaginary Russian threat, it's fake, #Putin stressed. pic.twitter.com/JmUI48bpdK
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) February 8, 2024
Echoing the “Russia threat” claims, Sweden has been vocal in asserting that the defense of the three Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – would now be much easier since Sweden became NATO’s 32nd member.
Furthermore, Sweden has already revealed it is sending a combat battalion to Latvia - just 200km from Gotland - to join the ranks of the alliance’s multinational force situated there.
Once Sweden finally joined NATO on March 7, Latvia’s Foreign Minister reveled in the fact that the bloc had come close to ringing the entire Baltic Sea.
“The Baltic Sea becomes a NATO lake,” said Krisjanis Karins quipped.
NATO has experienced nine waves of expansion since its inception, when it started out with 12 members. Although it casts itself as a purely defensive bloc, history has shown otherwise. This alliance was established to deter alleged Soviet expansion, yet after the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, NATO did not cease to exist. Despite promises given to late Soviet leaders by the US, the bloc proceeded to expand eastward and encircle Russia.
Only Germany and Denmark on the Baltic coast were in NATO during the Cold War. Poland joined the alliance in 1999, and the three Baltic republics in 2004.
Finland became a NATO member in April 2023. Since then, Russia has conducted regular missile drills near the Gulf of Finland as Moscow continues to strengthen its border.
At the Antalya Diplomacy Forum held in Turkey, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took Finland and Sweden to task for abandoning their longstanding neutrality to join NATO. He said that their decision marked the end of "decades of good neighborliness." Lavrov also warned that Russia would respond by introducing additional systems that will be “appropriate to the threats that could appear on the territory of Finland and Sweden.”
❗️Against the backdrop of building up NATO's military potential near its borders, Russia has taken measures to strengthen troop groups in the northwestern and western strategic directions, creating the Leningrad and Moscow military districts, Russian Defense Minister Sergei…
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) March 5, 2024
In recent years, the North Atlantic alliance had largely shrugged off Moscow's offers regarding NATO and the US, which were aimed at providing security assurances. These proposals included an agreement that would entail a mutual commitment from both Russia and NATO to refrain from positioning troops, ships, or aircraft in proximity to one another. In response to the North Atlantic bloc building up its military potential near Russia's borders, the Kremlin has taken measures to bolster its troop strength in the northwestern and western strategic regions, creating the Leningrad and Moscow military districts, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said earlier in March.
NATO is gearing up for new conflicts, and drills conducted by the alliance in Europe raise tension in the world, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev warned earlier.
"The joint drills by NATO's armed forces in Europe called Steadfast Defender 2024, during which the scenario of armed confrontation with Russia is being worked out, will certainly increase tensions and destabilize the situation in the world," Patrushev said during a meeting on security in the North Caucasus. He added that the US-led North Atlantic bloc intends to step up its presence in the Arctic and Asia-Pacific.
As for the imaginary “Russia threat,” President Vladimir Putin noted in his interview with US journalist and media personality Tucker Carlson that NATO leaders were trying to intimidate their own population. According to Putin, "thinking people, analysts," and "just smart people understand perfectly well that this is a fake."
