Sweden just announced some 150 troops from a mechanized company put on the island in the context of drills would stay there.
The activity of Russian submarines, aircraft and ships in the region has continued to be high (including a most recent readiness exercies in Belarus and landing ships of the Baltic Fleet with “loading exercises”), possibly preparing for military action under the cover of redeployment, drills and military expositions.
Swedish blogger Jägarchefen’s remarks can be seen in this context (translated by Corporal Frisk): “the last three weeks have featured a number of stern statements by both Swedish, US, and Russian officials. This has now culminated in the Swedish decision not to stand down after a readiness exercise. What exactly has caused this development is not publicly known, but at the same time US vice-president Biden gave Sweden some form of security guarantees in the face of Russian aggression, Swedish officials have quietly upgraded the risk of an ‘isolated attack on Sweden’ from ‘improbable’ to ‘low’. Rumours are also circulating that the recent Russian exercise caused the Swedish Defence Force to very nearly raise their readiness, something which has not happened since the Russian invasion of Crimea. From the Finnish viewpoint, there is a natural question that deserves to be asked: What does the Swedish Commander-in-Chief know, that our politicians pretend they don’t?”
Finnish analysts meanwhile have pointed to the fact that the only demilitarized zone in the area is the archipelago of the Åland-islands, situated between Finland and Sweden. As Petri Mäkelä puts it: “Its location allows control over majority of the shipping lines to Finland and mainland Estonia. It’s also perfectly situated for area denial use. Long range surface to air missiles in the islands can control critical parts of both Finnish and Swedish airspace, while Iskander-m ballistic missiles could be used to devastate military infrastructure of both non-aligned nations.”
eastern europe in a nutshell 