Posts Tagged ‘defence’

The leaders of Sweden’s Socialdemokraterna are calling for the establishment of a permanent multinational Nato force on the island of Gotland. Their plan, put forward on Sunday during the opening day of Folk och Försvar, an annual security conference, proposes establishing a contingent that could supplement the island’s existing defensive capabilities. They also suggest making the island the home base of an 800‑person amphibious battalion capable of operating throughout the Baltic.

Gotland, given its strategic location in the Baltic, has been a focal point of Sweden’s post-post-Cold War rearmament. Even so, the island remains only lightly defended—the Gotland Regiment, re-established in 2018, comprises only 350 soldiers. Gotland’s home-guard unit reckons it could muster another 500 soldiers in the event of a Russian attack, and the thinking in Stockholm had been that the combined force would be enough to hold any unforeseen Russian invasion in check until reinforcements from elsewhere in Sweden and the rest of Nato could arrive.

But, with Moscow expected to be antagonistic for the foreseeable future, and Washington looking increasingly unwilling help out, that strategy is up for revision. In practice, the military is already preparing for both of these scenarios: in September, Sweden held its first bilateral drill with Poland on Gotland (pictured above).

Politically, Socialdemokraterna are in the opposition, but the proposal aligns with the government’s own position that it would welcome a Nato contingent if the alliance decided to send one. Their hope is that they would do so before the Russians decided to send their own.

(📸 Försvarsmakten)