Total defence Nordic countries prep for the next crisis
When they meet in Oslo tomorrow, the 87 delegates to the Nordic Council, a gathering of legislators from the region, will be asking each other if they are ready for the next crisis. Strictly speaking, issues like foreign affairs, defence and security are not within the remit of the Nordic Council. The fact that its semi-annual session will again have the issue on its agenda anyway reflects two things: one, the pressing nature of the matter, and, two, the region’s growing reliance on a strategy known as “total defence”.
Since the start of Moscow’s unprovoked war against Ukraine, the Nordic and Baltic countries, fearing they are next, have been pumping a lot of money into their militaries, with Denmark’s prime minister going so far as to order the country’s generals to go on a shopping spree. Total defence makes that spending go a little further by giving the private sector and ordinary civilians a role to play during times of crisis—at a minimum, by making sure they can take care of themselves, so that the public sector and the military can concentrate on the most immediate threats. The thinking is that involving populations in emergency preparedness means they know what to do in the event something happens, and, not least, how to get themselves ready for it. Call it prepping, Nordic style.
FURTHER READING
} Nordic-Baltic Total Defence: Easier Said Than Done (Heinrich Böll Stiftung)
} Lithuanian opposition presents alternative defence plan, calling for total defence concept (LRT)
} Strengthening civil preparedness in the Baltic Sea Region (Diis)
} Focus on preparedness and total defence when Presidium of the Nordic Council met in Iceland (Nordic Council)
} “Finns understand that everyone has a role to play” (Helsinki Security Forum)
} Nordic Council Theme Session 2026 (Nordic Council)
} Total defence (Government offices of Sweden)
} A new era for Nordic security and preparedness (Nordic Council)
Finland and Estonia on Friday have agreed to increase the security of their subsea infrastructure, which includes power and telecommunications cables as well as the Balticconnector gas pipeline that was damaged a year ago.
The agreement, announced in Helsinki on Friday, will see the two countries join forces to on things like technical surveillance, patrolling and repair capacities of subsea infrastructure in the Baltic.
It comes amid what Tallin and Helsinki say has been an increased number of threats against subsea infrastructure, and as countries around the Baltic rim are looking to expand all manner of subsea connections.
Finnish police continue to investigate cause of the Balticconnector damage, while Estonian police are looking into damage to subsea telecommunications links that occurred around the same time. Police in both countries have yet to provide their conclusions.
Local lawmakers on Bornholm have voted down a motion to begin the process of identifying potential sites for an industry estate that could serve as a crucible for energy start-ups once a planned converter station for off-shore wind farms comes on-line.
Tendering for the converter station on the southern coast and two wind farms capable of powering 4.5 million homes has begun. Collectively known as Energy Island Bornholm, it is due to begin producing power in 2030, and that, according to a majority of the environment, nature and planning committee, is too far off—and the outcome of the project still far too uncertain—to being looking for places to place an estate.
Helle Munk Ravnborg, the committee chair, told TV2/Bornholm, a local broadcaster, that identifying sites for potential development while the future of Energy Island Bornholm was unclear, and before the full council has decided to build an industry estate, would be an unnecessary worry for property owners in or near areas selected as suitable sites.
The council’s finance and climate committee is due to consider the same question when it meets on Wednesday. If it is approved, the proposal will come before the full council.
A newly established Estonian defence firm that is drawing on the talent of several of the country’s defence-industry heavyweights has announced it will start producing anti-drone missile systems in Ukraine at a time when that country is facing increasingly intense Russian air raids.
“Expansion into Ukraine is the most important early strategic choice for Frankenburg. We will work tirelessly to launch our unique missile manufacturing in Ukraine to provide much-needed C-UAS (counter-uncrewed air system, ed) assets to the warfighter,” said Taavi Madiberk, a technology executive who helped found the company in January.
Frankenburg Technologies develops and produces air-defence systems that are capable of being mass-produced.
Other notable figures involved with the firm include its chief executive, Kusti Salm, former Estonian defence official whose appointment was announced today; Martin Herem, Estonia’s recently retired top military commander and Kuldar Väärsi, the chief executive of Milrem Robotics.
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The firm is the most recent European arms producer to announce its intention to set up production on Ukrainian soil. In February, German manufacturer Rheinmetall AG announced it would open a new plant in Ukraine to produce artillery ammunition.
By March, five more agreements with foreign arms
A proposed hydrogen network linking six countries in the Baltic Sea region could transport up to 2.7m tons a year by 2040, according to a study published Monday suggesting that the Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor would be commercially viable.
The study—known as a pre-feasibility study—was conducted as part of an agreement among the transport-system operators in Germany, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in June to develop cross-border pipelines, national grid networks and hydrogen-storage facilities.
The findings should lead to the next step—a feasibility study—that will look more closely at the technical, commercial and financial aspects and establish a timetable for implementation.
Spanning an estimated 2,500km, such a pipeline could become one of Europe’s first cross-border hydrogen pipelines, Ontras Gastransport, which operates gas-transmission systems in Germany, said in a statement.
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The 2040 estimate is a decade later than the originally planned— just as it is a decade later than the EU’s own target of 10m tons of hydrogen produced annually using renewable energy. However, a spokesperson for Elering, the Estonian trasnmission-system operator, told Montel, a news outlet, that the final date would depend on the results of further studies.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are committed to completing by the end of the decade a financially troubled and badly delayed high-speed rail project integrating the three Baltic countries with the continental European rail network, transport ministers from the three countries say.
Set to link the Baltic capitals of Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius on a new track with passenger trains running at speeds of up to 250km/h, the Rail Baltica project was launched in 2014 as a pan-Baltic joint venture with funding primarily provided by the EU.
The project is scheduled to be completed in 2030, while a Lithuanian-Polish link to will be finished in 2028.
However, speaking after an earlier meeting on Saturday with with the Latvian and Lithuanian, Vladimir Svet, the Estonian infrastructure minister, said that while that remained the goal, that the three countries would be keeping an eye on costs and would be looking to keep the budget down.
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The initial 2010 plan projected the railway would cost €3.5bn. Howver, a report published in June compiled by auditors from the three countries warned that completing the project would require an additional €19bn.
This year, the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, has allocated an additional amount of around €1.2 billion for the development of Rail Baltica.
Denmark will start enforcing EU sanctions that prevent 27 Russian ships from entering Danish waters or anchorage sites, according to new guidlines issued by Danpilot, the national pilotage service. The ban also applies to services like bunkering and ship supplies.
The measure comes after Brussels in June adopted its 14th round of sanctions against Moscow in response to its unprovoked attack on Ukraine. These latest sanctions target the growing “shadow fleet” Moscow is said to be using to transport oil in violation of previous sanctions. They mark a significant step in the EU’s efforts to the Kremlin to comply with sanctions.
The shadow fleet has reportedly expanded to include between 360 to 1,400 vessels, representing a substantial portion of the global tanker market. The ships, often old and with unclear insurance and ownership, have only limited ties to Moscow, raising serious environmental concerns, particularly in the ecologically sensitive Baltic Sea region.
Reports suggest that they had continued to access Danish anchorages, just as it is unclear whether Danish pilots have begun enforcing the ban, but Russian officials have warned of potential retaliatory measures in response the latest round of sanctions.
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This fleet’s existence underscores the challenges faced by the EU and its allies in curtailing Russia’s oil trade, which has been increasingly rerouted to the Kremlin’s allies amid tightening sanctions, indicating a shift in global trade patterns in response to sanctions.
Denmark’s geographical position makes it a crucial player in monitoring maritime traffic in the Baltic Sea, where a considerable volume of Russian oil passes through. Copenhagen is considering additional restrictions, motivated by the environmental risks posed by the vessels, but international maritime laws grant vessels the right to innocent passage, limiting its ability to enforce its ban without risking diplomatic tensions with Russia.
The Danish government plans to earmark 10mn kroner (€1.34mn) to allay concerns on the island of Bornholm that a planned 3GW interconnector will not benefit the local economy.
The proposed funding is included in a proposed national rural-development plan unveiled today.
Slated for completion in 2030, Energy Island Bornholm will consist of a 3GW windfarm off the southern coast of Bornholm and two on-shore interconnectors that will link the windfarm with Germany and the Greater Copenhagen area.
Despite local support for the windfarm, there has been concern about the placement of the interconnectors, which will occupy 100 hectares along the coast of the popular holiday destination, as well as the likelihood that none of the power generated by the windfarm will be available to the island’s residents or firms.
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The Bornholm island council hopes that a proposed business park adjacent to the interconnector station could be powered by the windfarm, making it a selling point that could lead to the creation of new jobs. Søren Møller Christensen, the director of Baltic Energy Island, an Ørsted Wind Power-funded group seeking to promote energy innovation on Bornholm, reckons that the funding could be used to pay for the business park.
“If we’re giving up land for Energy Island Bornholm, then Bornholm needs to get something back that secures Bornholm’s economy in the long run. And this is something we can do with this money,” Mr Christensen told TV2/Bornholm, a local news outlet.
Copenhagen has earmarked half of the expected 31.5bn kroner the project is expected to cost.