Russia Warns Sweden It Will Face Military Action If It Joins NATO

Russia Warns Sweden It Will Face Military Action If It Joins NATO

June 19, 2015

Russia would take military "countermeasures" if Sweden were to join Nato, according to the Russian ambassodor.

In an interview with Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, Viktor Tatarinstev warned against joining the NATO alliance, saying there would be "consequences".

Decrying what he called an "aggressive propaganda campaign" by the media, Tatarinstev stressed that "Sweden is not a target for our armed troops".

But with a recent surge of Swedish support for joining Nato, the ambassador said: "If it happens, there will be counter measures.

Despite the swing in public opinion - 31 per cent of Swedes wants to join NATO, up from 17 per cent in 2012 - Russia is confident that the country will not opt to join the Western military organisation.

He said: "I don't think it will become relevant in the near future."

Tatarinstev blamed souring Swedish-Russian relations on a media campaign in which "Russia is often described as an attacker who only thinks of conducting wars and threatening others".

Last year a series of reports indicated increased Russian military presence in the Baltic sea, with fighter-bombers spotted in Swedish airspace and a foreign submarine seen in Swedish waters.

Foreign Minister Carl Bildt referred to the former as "the most serious aerial incursion by the Russians" in almost a decade.

And Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist has since announced Sweden will be upgrading its navy fleet so it can better detect submarine activity.

Video at Fox News: Russia Threatens Harsh Response If Sweden Joins NATO

Russia 'simulated a nuclear strike' against Sweden, Nato admits

Russian bombers targeted military and intelligence installations in 2013 war game that caught Swedish airforce unprepared
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Russian Tupolev Tu-22M supersonic strategic bombers fly above the Kremlin in Moscow Photo: AFP

By Roland Oliphant, Moscow

12:10PM GMT 04 Feb 2016

The Russian airforce conducted a mock nuclear strike against Sweden during war games less than three years ago, Nato has said.

The 2013 exercise, which saw a contingent of Russian aircraft approach Swedish airspace after crossing the Gulf of Finland, was one of several examples of dummy nuclear attacks against Nato and its allies in recent years, according to a new Nato report.


'Over the past three years, Russia has conducted at least 18 large-scale snap exercises, some of which have involved more than 100,000 troops'
Jens Stoltenberg, Nato

"As part of its overall military build-up, the pace of Russia’s military manoeuvres and drills have reached levels unseen since the height of the Cold War,”Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of Nato, wrote in his annual report for 2015.

“Over the past three years, Russia has conducted at least 18 large-scale snap exercises, some of which have involved more than 100,000 troops.”

"These exercises include simulated nuclear attacks on Nato Allies (eg, ZAPAD [a large-scale Russian military exercise]) and on partners (eg, March 2013 simulated attacks on Sweden),” he added.

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Russian Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback tactical bombers, Su-27 Flanker fighters and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters fly over Red Square Photo: AFP

Two Tupolev Tu-22M3 strategic bombers escorted by four Sukhoi Su-27 jet fighters crossed the Gulf of Finland and came within 24 miles of Swedish territory off the island of Gotland, 100 miles from Stockholm, on March 29, 2013.

They veered off after apparently completing dummy bombing runs against targets believed to include a military base in southern Sweden and the headquarters of Sweden’s signals intelligence agency outside Stockholm.

The incident caused controversy in Sweden at the time because the Swedish military was caught unprepared and had to rely on Danish airforce jets, operating as part of a Nato’s Baltic air policing mission, to respond.

Nato declined to comment further on the incident, saying it has “nothing to add” to the statement in the report.

Russia’s ministry of defence has not publicly responded to the claims, but one retired general told the Telegraph that the report was “nonsense designed to stir up hysteria about the Baltic states".

“This statement about a supposed nuclear strike on Sweden is nothing more than a provocation,” said Evgenny Buzhinsky, a former general who now heads the PIR analytical centre in Moscow.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and subsequent involvement in the war in eastern Ukraine have raised military tensions in Europe to Cold War levels.
British defence officials have expressed mounting concern at an increase in the number of Russian military flights probing Nato airspace, including around the British Isles.

'We haven't had to worry about this for 25 years. While I wish it were otherwise, now we do'
Ash Carter, US defence secretary

The United States on Tuesday said it wanted to quadruple military spending in Europe as a direct result of Russia’s actions in the region.

Ash Carter, the American defence secretary, said spending on military deployments designed to reassure eastern European countries who fear Russian meddling or attack will jump from £547 million ($789 million) to £2.4 billion, according to a 2017 budget proposal.

"We haven't had to worry about this for 25 years, and while I wish it were otherwise, now we do,” he said while unveiling the plans.

The announcement followed the release last month of an “updated theatre strategy document” that identified countering Russian aggression as the number one priority for EUCOM, the United States European Command.

Most concern has focused on the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, three former Soviet republics which share a border with Russia and are home to Russian-speaking minorities.

Some analysts have speculated that Russia could use protection of those minorities as a pretext for a Crimean-style annexation.

Nato has deployed an air-policing contingent of jet fighters to the region and conducted a series of joint exercises to reassure eastern allies and deter possible Russian adventurism.

But a recent report by the RAND corporation concluded that even with these precautions it would take Russian forces just 60 hours to overrun the three countries.

Gen Buzhinsky dismissed such concerns as unfounded, saying seizing the Baltic states would bring no strategic benefit to Russia and that the Russian speaking minority has no interest in military “protection".

But he warned that Russia would respond to any increase in Nato’s military presence in the region.

“Of course that is a reason for concern from the Russian side, and of course if the United States deploys heavy equipment towards us, we would do the same,” he said.

If the Russians would deign to nuke Sweden... does anyone think they wouldn't attack the US?

Sweden doesn't have subs that will Nuke them back.

That was my point. If they would nuke a country that CANT nuke them back... do you think they wouldn't jump on the Nuke US bandwagon?

Sweden Votes Yes To Controversial NATO Deal

May 25, 2016

Parliament voted through an agreement on Wednesday which could allow NATO to deploy forces in Sweden, after the Sweden Democrats pulled out of a bid to stall the decision.

The Swedish parliament ratified the so-called Host Nation Support Agreement (HNSA) late in the afternoon. A Left Party proposal to stay proceedings was voted down by 291 votes to 21.

Protests were heard from the public galleries when the decision was made, prompting the speaker of the house to call in security guards. Police later arrived to escort seven women making loud crying sounds from the building.

The Left Party, arguing that the much-debated deal posed a risk to the rights and freedoms in Sweden's constitution, had originally been backed by the far right Sweden Democrats in an unlikely alliance between the two politically enemies.

However, the latter pulled its support at the eleventh hour.

"There is a very broad majority for the host nation agreement in parliament. The Left Party and us make up about 20 percent of the members of the chamber," its leader Jimmie Åkesson told Aftonbladet a day ahead of the vote.

"We would probably have been able to push it back a few weeks, but a stay of proceedings would not have gone through."

The Left Party's leader, Jonas Sjöstedt, criticized the party's U-turn.

"I am not at all surprised. The Sweden Democrats have been very wobbly on issues to do with freedom from alliances for some time now," he told the TT news agency.

Originally signed in September 2014, the HNSA with NATO would allow the alliance to transport helicopters, aircraft and ships across Swedish territory, but only upon Sweden’s invitation.

As the agreement involves changes to Swedish law in order to give NATO personnel privileges and immunities with regards to areas like tax and custom rules, it required parliamentary ratification. After the stamp of approval it is expected to come into force on July 1st, 2016.

Public opinion in traditionally non-aligned Sweden has shifted towards NATO in recent years.

A Sifo poll released in September 2015 showed a marked change, with more Swedes in favour of joining the military alliance than against.

Of the 1,000 respondents, a total of 41 percent told the poll they were in favour of seeking membership in the military defence alliance, 39 percent said they were against it and 20 percent were uncertain.

A year later....

Russia, go fuck yourself.

Fearing Russia, Sweden Holds Biggest War Games In 20 Years

September 14, 2017

Neutral Sweden has launched its biggest war games in two decades with support from NATO countries, drilling 19,000 troops after years of spending cuts that have left the country fearful of Russia's growing military strength.

On the eve of Russia's biggest manoeuvres since 2013, which NATO says will be greater than the 13,000 troops Moscow says are involved, Sweden will simulate an attack from the east on the Baltic island of Gotland, near the Swedish mainland.

"The security situation has taken a turn for the worse," Micael Byden, the commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, said during a presentation of the three-week-long exercise.

Sweden, like the Baltics, Poland and much of the West, has been deeply troubled by Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula Crimea and its support for rebels in eastern Ukraine.

"Russia is the country that affects security in Europe right now with its actions - the annexation of the Crimea and continued battles in eastern Ukraine - so it is clear that we are watching very closely what Russia is doing," Byden said.

Around 1,500 troops from the United States, France, Norway and other NATO allies are taking part in the exercise dubbed Aurora.

Non-NATO member Sweden has decided to beef up its military after having let spending drop from over 2 percent of economic output in the early 1990s to around 1 percent, and is re-introducing conscription.

The armed forces, which at one point could mobilise more than 600,000, stand at just 20,000, with 22,000 more Home Guard volunteers.

NATO generals say the Aurora exercise is not a response to Russian exercises that start on Thursday.

But Byden, speaking as U.S. and French forces displayed mobile surface-to-air missile systems to be deployed during the exercise, stressed the importance of NATO for Sweden.

"We are a sovereign country that takes care of and is responsible for our safety. We do this together with others, ready to both support and receive help," he said.

The United States shipped vehicles by sea from Germany, while France brought others by train. They are to be moved via a classified route to Sweden's east coast for the exercise where U.S. attack helicopters will play the enemy during Aurora.

The government is determined to stick to the country's formal neutrality. Sweden has not fought a war since it clashed with Norway in 1814.

But like its non-NATO neighbour Finland, Sweden has been drawing closer to NATO, allowing closer cooperation with alliance troops, with a view to working together in the event of an armed conflict.