Sweden ups military over Russia concerns | World Defense

Sweden ups military over Russia concerns

BLACKEAGLE

SENIOR MEMBER
Joined
Dec 5, 2014
Messages
3,623
Reactions
1,989 10 0
Country
Jordan
Location
Jordan
e543b98f-d3bd-44bb-a79e-968f3fdcfd75_16x9_600x338.jpg

NATO planes join their forces in norhtern Sweden during the Arctic Challenge Exercise. (File Photo: AP)

AFP, Stockholm
Friday, 26 June 2015

Sweden is stepping up its military capabilities and exercises with NATO amid concerns over Russia’s military resurgence, Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist said on Friday.

“It's a general fact that Russia is carrying out bigger, more complex, and in some cases more provocative and defiant, exercises. We are following that development and are now strengthening our military capability and our international cooperation,” Hultqvist told paper of reference Dagens Nyheter.

Sweden, a non-NATO country which has a longstanding tradition of military non-alliance, will increase its exercises with the Alliance, including those on Swedish territory.

Swedish troops will take part in a large NATO exercise in Spain in September, and in Norway in 2018.

The country also took part in NATO's recently completed Baltops exercises in the Baltic Sea.

“We need to keep up with the new reality. It is broadly anchored in parliament that it is important for the United States to be militarily represented in Europe and this is part of the balance,” he said.

His comments came a day after US think tank Cepa published a report claiming Russia had held exercises with 33,000 troops aimed at practicing an invasion of the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, among other sites, on March 21-25.

Swedish security experts have widely downplayed the risk of a possible invasion, instead interpreting the exercises as a sign of increased posturing from Moscow.

Sweden's defense budget has been cut back drastically since the end of the Cold War, as the military turned its focus away from territorial defense in favor of international peacekeeping missions.

But a June 16 defense ministry proposal to parliament refers, for the first time since the end of the Cold War, to building up the country's defense “to prepare Sweden for war”.

In April, Sweden announced plans to raise defense spending by 10.2 billion kronor (1.09 billion euros, $1.18 billion) for 2016-2020, mostly to modernize ships to detect and intercept submarines.

The re-positioning comes amid an uptick in Russian military activity in the past year.

In October, a week-long search for a suspected Russian submarine in waters off Stockholm was called off, with the military unable to identify the intruding vessel.

A series of alleged airspace violations by Russian jets over the last year has also raised jitters in Sweden.

Swedish public opinion has long been opposed to NATO membership, though recent polls have shown an increase in support.


Last Update: Friday, 26 June 2015 KSA 14:02 - GMT 11:02
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2015/06/26/Sweden-steps-up-military-readiness-amid-Russia-concerns-.html
 

Waynefire

MEMBER
Joined
Feb 13, 2015
Messages
93
Reactions
18 0 0
Country
USA
Location
USA
I am shocked that Sweden would have such a downward nose towards NATO. It is a decent organization from what I have read online and would protect the country should Russia decide to invade.
 
Top