U.S. and Sweden conduct military drills on Baltic Sea island & More News Here

VISBY, Sweden (AP) — Having to defend Gotland towards a international invasion appeared such a far-fetched notion to Swedish decision-makers initially of the century that they demilitarized the Baltic Sea island.

Now, the Swedish Armed Forces are again, and they’re practising with U.S. troops not simply defend the island with a inhabitants of 58,000, however take it again from a international aggressor.

U.S. Marines have carried out air drops and amphibious landings on Gotland as a part of a NATO train within the Baltic Sea.

Though the annual BALTOPS train isn’t held in response to a particular menace, this 12 months’s version comes amid heightened tensions with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. About 7,000 military personnel and 45 ships from 14 NATO international locations, in addition to Sweden and Finland, took half.

READ MORE: NATO conducts naval workouts with Finland and Sweden

Despite their non-aligned standing, the 2 Nordic have practiced frequently with NATO international locations, and their governments determined within the wake of the Ukraine conflict to hunt full membership within the Western military alliance.

“I’m feeling really prepared. I mean, we have made a big deployment on Gotland, and we will defend Gotland,” Swedish Col. Magnus Frykvall, the island’s regiment commander, mentioned as military {hardware} was being deployed on the coast. “It’s a really hard task to take a defended island.”

Strategically positioned in the midst of the southern a part of the Baltic Sea, Gotland has seen international invasions all through its historical past, the newest one in 1808, when Russian forces briefly occupied it.

But after the Cold War ended, Sweden felt the chance of a Russian aggression was so distant it refocused its armed forces on international peacekeeping operations reasonably than territorial protection. The Gotland regiment was closed in 2005 as Sweden downsized its military.

Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014 led to a rethink, and a brand new regiment was established on Gotland in 2018. There at the moment are round 400 Swedish troopers completely primarily based on the island. Further reinforcements are deliberate following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Nonetheless, many Gotlanders really feel Sweden wouldn’t be capable of defend the island on its personal.

“If we were to be invaded, we wouldn’t stand a chance because our defense is too small. We have a really modern and good defense, but it’s too small,” mentioned Lars Söderdahl, a 33-year-old chef within the island’s most important city, Visby.

Sweden, which has stayed out of military alliances for the reason that Napoleonic Wars, utilized for NATO membership along with Finland in a historic transfer final month. NATO’s current 30 members are set to debate the difficulty this month. Turkey has threatened to carry up the functions over the 2 international locations’ perceived assist for Kurdish teams.

Finland and Sweden have sought safety assurances from the U.S. and different NATO international locations in the course of the utility interval.

READ MORE: NATO chief seeks to curb Erdogan’s resistance to Finland, Sweden becoming a member of alliance

Kicking off the BALTOPS workouts final weekend in Stockholm, U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, mentioned it was essential for the NATO allies “to show solidarity with both Finland and Sweden.”

Their membership within the alliance would depart Russia in a tough military place, with the Baltic Sea encircled by NATO members apart from in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad and the Russian metropolis of St. Petersburg and its surrounding areas.

The strategic significance of Gotland, a well-liked summer time trip spot for Swedes, is commonly considered in relation to the Baltic international locations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, that are significantly anxious about any Russian aggression following the Ukraine invasion. Gotland is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from mainland Sweden and 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the coast of Latvia,

“The thing is, from here, you make supplying and supporting the Baltic states a lot easier or a lot more difficult, depending on who is in control of the island,” Mikael Norrby, an Uppsala University educational, instructed The Associated Press.

Coinciding with the NATO workouts, Russia’s Baltic Fleet launched its personal military workouts this week. The fleet’s press service referred to the maneuvers Tuesday as a scheduled train targeted on “various types of security tasks,” together with the monitoring and destruction of enemy submarines.

“There are more than 20 warships and boats in the sea ranges of the Baltic Fleet, performing combat tasks both individually and as part of ship search-and-strike groups and ship strike groups,” the press service mentioned in an announcement.

It added that corvettes, patrol ships, small missile carriers, anti-submarine vessels, minesweepers, and touchdown hovercraft have been among the many vessels participating within the workouts.

Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.

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