Sweden Bolsters Baltic Military Presence in Show of Force Toward Russia

Sweden has strengthened its military presence in the Baltic Sea, marking an unprecedented show of force directed at Russia over Moscow's maneuvers in the region.


Sweden said Tuesday that it lifted its military readiness for the first time since 1991 in reaction to levels of Russian and Western activity not seen in the Baltic Sea since the Cold War. The national daily Dagens Nyheter reported that the move was triggered by a Russian landing ship's passing near Sweden’s strategic island of Gotland earlier that day.

“Overall, the situation is more unstable and more difficult to predict,” the Swedish armed forces said in a statement on its website, adding that the foreign exercises have grown in complexity and rapidity.


It did not disclose the number of troops or equipment involved.


Swedish military analyst Johan Wiktorin told The Financial Times that fighter jets and tanks have been deployed to Gotland and four corvettes were conducting exercises nearby with a Finnish minesweeper. A U.S. special forces aircraft landed on Gotland over the weekend, he added, while Norway’s fighter jets patrolled the Arctic with U.S. bombers.


The Russian Navy held its annual Ocean Shield drills involving more than 30 warships in the Baltic Sea earlier in August.


The Swedish military's statement pointed to ongoing anti-government protests in Belarus, saying “the unpredictable security situation in our neighboring region places high demands on accessibility and preparedness.”


Swedish foreign minister Ann Linde told FT that the deployment was not related to the unrest in Belarus.


“When Russia is doing a big exercise we have an interest in showing that we have a very strong military in Sweden and that we’re of course prepared for a heightened security situation in our area,” Linde said.


Sweden, a historically neutral country that slashed its military spending at the end of the Cold War, reopened a garrison on Gotland in January 2018 amid concerns about Russia's intentions in Europe and the Baltic.

Sweden Bolsters Baltic Military Presence in Show of Force Toward Russia - The Moscow Times

Blimey Putin must be wetting himself!

The swedes have a functional navy? Submarines etc?

Attachment 56625

These girls will dominate

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Originally Posted by docmartin

These girls will dominate

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I surrender. :)

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Originally Posted by misskit

Sweden has strengthened its military presence in the Baltic Sea,

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Pity that Sweden did not "strengthened its military presence" 80 years ago...

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Originally Posted by Klondyke

Pity that Sweden did not "strengthened its military presence" 80 years ago...

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The swedes are the "germans" of Scandinavia.

Don't know what you mean

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Originally Posted by misskit

Sweden Bolsters Baltic Military Presence in Show of Force Toward Russia

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Probably has a new millitary budget coming through

Don't know the excact numbers, but I reckon, that the Nordic countries, spend nearly as much as Russia on this foolishness called ...defence

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Originally Posted by Klondyke

Pity that Sweden did not "strengthened its military presence" 80 years ago...

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Originally Posted by helge

Don't know what you mean

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No-one does. Suffice it to say that he is referring to world war two and some odd reference that Sweden didn't have a military presence in the Baltic

Somehow he's arrived at the equally odd notion that Sweden in 1940 thought 'Germany good' and Sweden in 2020 thinks 'Russia bad'.

Who knows

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Originally Posted by helge

Don't know the excact numbers, but I reckon, that the Nordic countries, spend nearly as much as Russia on this foolishness called ...defence

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Yeah?



Military Expenditure in Russia 64,193 USD Million

Military Expenditure in Norway 6,824 USD Million

Military Expenditure in Sweden 5,733 USD Million

Military Expenditure in Finland 3,533 USD Million

Military Expenditure in Denmark 3,971 USD Million


https://tradingeconomics.com/sweden/military-expenditure#:~:text=Military%20Expenditure%20in%20 Denmark%20is,macro%20models%20and%20analysts%20exp ectations.


64 Billion vs 18 Billion

Fact Check = Fail.

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Originally Posted by TheRealKW

Fact Check = Fail.

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Seems so

Thanks

Edit:
I tried but can't prove myself right.

Your numbers aren't what I get, but that could be exhange rates and such.

Our BNP are pretty similar to that of Russia, but they use a much higher percentage.

But book keeping methods etc

Denmark just made Trump happy by transferring all pensions for millitary personel to the defense budget.

Made us jump up in the statistics :)

Did you count that ?

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Originally Posted by panama hat

Somehow he's arrived at the equally odd notion that Sweden in 1940 thought 'Germany good' and Sweden in 2020 thinks 'Russia bad'.

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Sounds about right

I didn't understand if he wanted Sweden to take sides then and with whom

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an unprecedented show of force directed at Russia

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Yeh, right. Like being savaged by a dead sheep. Vlad must be quaking in his boots. The invasion has been postponed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by helge

Seems so

Thanks

Edit:
I tried but can't prove myself right.

Your numbers aren't what I get, but that could be exhange rates and such.

Our BNP are pretty similar to that of Russia, but they use a much higher percentage.

But book keeping methods etc

Denmark just made Trump happy by transferring all pensions for millitary personel to the defense budget.

Made us jump up in the statistics :)

Did you count that ?

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Could be exchange rate. I literally just googled for defence spending on each country, obviously different ways of counting, no idea if they included Trump's military pensions or not. Probably just uses publicly available information, which is not always the complete picture.

The source I used has been included, but the link is broken. Try again. Sweden Military Expenditure | 1960-2018 Data | 2019-2020 Forecast | Historical | Chart.

It's not really a big deal or not, just an interesting exercise, since your post piqued my curiosity. It appears that there is a 4-5 fold difference with Russia very much the bigger spender, which is what I thought it might be. However, your point that these Scandinavian countries are spending big, remains a valid one.

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Originally Posted by sabang

Yeh, right. Like being savaged by a dead sheep. Vlad must be quaking in his boots. The invasion has been postponed.

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But, Shirley you're not so small minded to think that Sweden v Russia one on one is a thing? There's the rest of Europe & NATO that would be more than triggered. Why not demonstrate you're not ready to roll over and be dead but willing to fight until help arrives?

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Originally Posted by Plan B

But, Shirley you're not so small minded to think that Sweden v Russia one on one is a thing?

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Ever hear of the Winter War? The Fins were all alone, and they fucked the Russians up real good until finally being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. :)

^
Yes, and that's all in the context of WWII. Things are a little bit different today.

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Originally Posted by Plan B

Things are a little bit different today.

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Indeed, they are but it is always fun to mention the Russians getting their asses kicked. :)

Besides, it pisses that moron Klondyke off. :)

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Originally Posted by Plan B

But, Shirley you're not so small minded to think that Sweden v Russia one on one is a thing? There's the rest of Europe & NATO that would be more than triggered. Why not demonstrate you're not ready to roll over and be dead but willing to fight until help arrives?

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Sweden vs Russia will not happen unless there is a bigger war ongoing so help may or may not arrive.
The Swedish strategy is that an attacker should be paying such a high price that it becomes a deterrent.

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Originally Posted by bsnub

Indeed, they are but it is always fun to mention the Russians getting their asses kicked

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Perhaps you should ask your mother what fun it was for them before the business at Stalingrad was finished - and when at last the Day D could be started...

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Originally Posted by Klondyke

Perhaps you should ask your mother what fun it was for them before the business at Stalingrad was finished - and when at last the Day D could be started...

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Perhaps you could make sense . . . but yes. Russian arses kicked - always nice to see, and no reaction when their soldiers are killed or wounded by the US

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Klondyke

Perhaps you should ask your mother what fun it was for them before the business at Stalingrad was finished - and when at last the Day D could be started...

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Perhaps you could make sense . . . but yes. Russian arses kicked - always nice to see, and no reaction when their soldiers are killed or wounded by the US

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Originally Posted by bsnub

Besides, it pisses that moron Klondyke off.

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And it worked a treat

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Originally Posted by lom

Sweden vs Russia will not happen unless there is a bigger war ongoing so help may or may not arrive.
The Swedish strategy is that an attacker should be paying such a high price that it becomes a deterrent.

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Of course, that's just logical. There wouldn't be a one-on-one