Gotland

Sweden Raises Alarm over Russian Military Exercises

Publié le Mis à jour le

Stockholm reinforced its defenses on a strategic island, amid military activity in the Baltic Sea that has “not been seen since the Cold War.”

Two JAS-37 fighter jets flying over a Swedish Navy corvette off the coast of Gotland, Sweden, on Tuesday, in a photo supplied by the Swedish Armed Forces.Credit…Antonia Sehlstedt/Swedish Armed Forces, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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,

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