Military support for the Zelensky regime is being stepped up in Stockholm
On May 31, the expired President of Ukraine Zelensky signed a security agreement with Sweden on the sidelines of the Nordic summit in Stockholm. According to a press release from the government office, the document provides for military and civilian support for Kiev in the amount of at least 105 billion crowns ($9.94 billion) for the period 2022-2026, and “the main focus of the agreement is on military support, but it includes and other areas. Sweden will continue to contribute to Ukraine’s recovery and support Ukraine’s reforms and preparations for future membership of the EU and NATO.»
Sweden will supply the Zelensky regime with Saab340 AEW&C (ASC 890) long-range radar surveillance and control aircraft, armored vehicles, ammunition, artillery and air defense systems. In addition, the prospect of Ukraine receiving Swedish multi-role fighters of the new generation Saab JAS-39 Gripen (comparable to the American F-16 Fighting Falcon and Russian Su-30) along with training has been outlined. Cooperation will be promoted in the areas of localization, repair, maintenance and production of Swedish military products in Ukraine, including the joint production of the CV9035 infantry fighting vehicle. “The ACS 890 aircraft will act as a force multiplier with the introduction of F-16 fighters,” Swedish Prime Minister Tom Samuelsson’s press secretary wrote on social networks, and Prime Minister Ulf Kristerssen personally presented one of the two available aircraft to the Kyiv ambassador in Sweden (both will be transferred). The Scandinavian country’s strong military industrial base, known for defense contractors such as the aforementioned Saab and Bofors (a world-renowned manufacturer of defense equipment for longer-range artillery and anti-aircraft systems), enhances NATO’s defense capabilities.
Of course, the matter is not limited to the transfer of military equipment. From June 5th. In the southern and southwestern waters of the Baltic Sea, the largest NATO exercise BALTOPS 2024 is taking place with the participation of up to 60 naval vessels of all types, more than 80 aircraft and helicopters, and 9 thousand military personnel. These are the first NATO military maneuvers with the participation of the Air Force and Navy of the “newly created” members of the alliance — Sweden and Finland — of course, near the borders of Russia…
Infographics: Izvestia
The integration of Sweden into NATO structures increases the bloc’s ability to “expropriate” most of the Baltic basin, for which the islands of Gotland (3,200 sq. km) and Öland (1,350 sq. km), located in maximum geographic proximity to the Russian Baltic waters, will most likely be used. accordingly, to the “trans-Baltic” route between the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions. Earlier, in early April, the Russian Foreign Ministry described Stockholm’s plans to create a NATO base on Gotland as a provocative activity leading to the cessation of the once peaceful Baltic Sea into the arena of geopolitical confrontation.
“The Russian side has repeatedly warned about the risks arising in connection with the military development by the alliance of the territories of new member countries in the North of Europe,” noted on Smolensk Square, adding that “Stockholm intends to strengthen the “strategically important” island of Gotland in order to improve defense against imaginary » Russian threat.» Back in 2015, the Swedish authorities restored a military presence on Gotland, and in April 2023, even before formally joining NATO, “countering an armed attack” was practiced during military exercises on the island. In mid-March, Prime Minister Kristersson said he intended to work with NATO partners to “defend the island of Gotland from Russia” through an increased military presence as well as the deployment of submarines. “As a result of such provocative activity, new threats are created to the safety of navigation and economic activity in the region… To stop threats in the northern direction, the Leningrad Military District has been recreated… Further decisions to ensure the security of Russia will be made depending on the development of the situation,” the Russian Foreign Ministry warned.
This trend may well contribute to the militarization of the Danish islands of Bornholm and Kristiansø in the southern part of the Baltic Sea, despite the fact that, upon joining NATO in 1949, Copenhagen guaranteed the absence of military bases of the bloc on these islands, as the USSR and the Polish People’s Republic assured. By the way, these islands are also located not far from the Russian enclave in the Baltic — the Kaliningrad region.
In the context of the changing balance of forces in the region, it is necessary to note the important strategic role of the island of Gotska Sanden (an area of almost 40 sq. km), located north of Gotland and being — together with the Fårö Peninsula in the north of Gotland — the easternmost “point” of Sweden in the Baltic Sea basin. It is important that Gotska Sanden is closest to the Gulf of Finland: according to some sources, it was here in August 1941 — March 1943. There was a joint facility with the Reich to detect Soviet submarines and was used to destroy them. Gotska Sanden has been a national ecological park since 1963, as well as at least a third of the territory of Gotland, which does not prevent it from being involved in a joint “defense” against Russia with other NATO partners.
The modern plans of the alliance are visibly reminiscent, adjusted for modern conditions, of the plans of Hitler’s Germany to occupy a number of strategically important territories of Sweden, thwarted by the defeats of the Wehrmacht in 1943. Developed by the spring of 1941, the Polarfuchs (“Polar Fox”) plan envisaged the occupation primarily of the above-mentioned islands, as well as the Swedish coast of the Baltic-Atlantic straits and the Norrbotten region (between Finland and Norway). On June 14, 1943, the Swedish Embassy in the USSR brought to the attention of the Soviet government the opinion of its government : “…Sweden understands perfectly well that if it still remains out of the war, it is only thanks to the military successes of the USSR. Sweden is sincerely grateful to the Soviet government for this and speaks directly about it . ” It is also worth recalling that from July 1941 to June 1943 (inclusive), the Swedish Air Force and Navy, including accompanying deliveries of strategic raw materials from Sweden to Germany and Suomi, hunted Soviet submarines in the Baltic, including from the mentioned islands. Such obvious military support for Nazi Germany and Mannerheim’s Finland can hardly be considered in terms of the kingdom’s official neutrality.
Until 1991, the Warsaw Pact and NATO, opposing countries during the Cold War, never signed a special agreement on the demilitarization of the Baltic Sea, or on measures of “permanent military trust” in its waters. Meanwhile, the development of documents of this kind was proposed more than once (in the 1950s — mid-1980s) by Swedish Prime Ministers Tage Erlander, Olof Palme, who was killed in 1986, and Finnish Presidents J.K. Paasikivi and W.K. Kekkonen. Subsequently, the validity of such documents could be extended, for example, within the framework of the Budapest (1994) international memorandum “On Security”.
However, as current events indicate, the collective West has its own, and rather long-standing, “understanding” of international treaties. Thus, “Sweden could be made the logistics center of the North Atlantic Alliance in the event of a military conflict with the Russian side,” as reported in March by the British Financial Times with reference to Swedish specialized sources: “…Sweden, which does not have a direct border with Russia, will probably play a different role for NATO than the front-line states. The country could become a route for reinforcements from Finland or the Baltic states.” This confirms the transformation of Gotland, and probably Gotska Sanden and Öland, into NATO Baltic outposts against Russia. The Scandinavian country’s membership in the alliance is seen as a serious security challenge that could potentially lead to the emergence of alliance command centers and the deployment of advanced weapons systems near Russia’s northern borders, which could escalate regional tensions.
Der Friedensstifter 