Sweden Raises Alarm over Russian Military Exercises
Stockholm reinforced its defenses on a strategic island, amid military activity in the Baltic Sea that has “not been seen since the Cold War.”
STOCKHOLM — Holiday makers in Sweden heading out Tuesday to enjoy summer weather on Gotland, a scenic island in the Baltic Sea, were jolted when armored personnel carriers and other military vehicles boarded their tourist ferry, which was then escorted by Swedish fighter jets and a warship.
In addition to being a tourist destination, Gotland is also a strategically important site, often referred to as Sweden’s “fixed aircraft carrier.” The Swedish military deployed four naval warships and an unspecified number of ground forces and warplanes in response to a major Russian naval exercise that has set off alarms regionally.
A United States Air Force C-130 landed briefly in Visby, Gotland,
on Saturday, said Therese Fagerstedt, a press officer at the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters. But she denied the flight had any connection to the Swedish military activities.
Russia may have been prompted by recent NATO exercises in the area, military experts said, as well as the unrest in Belarus and President Trump’s decision to redeploy troops from Germany to Poland.
The result, Jan Thörnqvist, chief of joint operations with the Swedish Armed Forces, said in a statement, is “extensive military activity in the Baltic Sea, conducted by Russian as well as Western players, on a scale the likes of which have not been seen since the Cold War.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry described its exercise as a mock amphibious landing of marines, with the first step being their deployment on three large assault vessels.
TANIKO Madagascar 