As of: January 29, 2024, 3:44 p.m
By: Christiane Kühl
Comments
Press
Split
Sweden's approaching accession turns the Baltic Sea into a NATO sea: This strengthens the coordinated defense against possible attacks by Russia.
Throughout its history, the Baltic Sea has been a place of flourishing trade and the scene of bloody wars.
During the Cold War, the Iron Curtain divided the sea.
After it ended, it seemed as if the Baltic Sea could once again be a common trading center and place of longing for beach-hungry people.
But the Russian attack on Ukraine is drawing attention again to the strategic importance of this sea.
And now the Baltic Sea is on the verge of becoming practically NATO waters.
Sweden's accession to NATO has moved a lot closer.
The Turkish National Assembly in Ankara approved Sweden's accession on Tuesday evening with 287 votes to 55.
Now all that is missing is the approval of Russia-friendly Hungary.
But Ankara's yes increases the pressure on Budapest.
Sweden's accession to NATO will probably make the Baltic Sea a NATO sea as early as 2024
Once Sweden's accession is complete, the Baltic Sea will be surrounded exclusively by NATO members.
The only exception is Russia.
Finland joined in April 2023.
Both states abandoned their longstanding neutrality in response to Russia's Ukraine campaign.
Their military strength now falls to NATO.
Finland has a large conscript army with hundreds of thousands of reservists.
Sweden has state-of-the-art fighter jets and submarines of its own production.
Control of the northern Baltic Sea will therefore go to NATO.
Only just under a tenth of the approximately 8,000 kilometer long coastline of the sea belongs to Russia - in the east of the Gulf of Finland and in front of the Kaliningrad exclave between Poland and Lithuania.
“The Russian coastal strip on the Baltic Sea is small and I don’t trust the Russian Navy to threaten the other Baltic Sea neighbors,” said Latvia’s army chief General Leonids Kalnin in a recent interview with the Germany editorial network.
He believes it is necessary “that we immediately place the Baltic Sea under NATO control.
This is the only way we can truly protect our underwater infrastructure and prevent provocations.”
The alliance also increased its maritime patrols in October 2023 in response to a series of mysterious incidents in which undersea cables and gas pipelines were severed near Finland, Sweden and Estonia.
At the time, Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson warned urgently about the vulnerability of the “spaghetti bowl of cables, wires and other infrastructure on the seabed.”
And it is still unclear who is responsible for the explosions on the two Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea in September 2022.
NATO is strengthening the security of the Baltic states
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been warning about the threat from Russia for years.
Today no one dismisses this as alarmist.
Once Sweden's accession is complete, NATO will begin to build a coordinated defense of the Nordic-Baltic region against the Russian threat, the British magazine
Economist
recently wrote .
The war caused NATO to change strategy.
According to the report, the alliance previously accepted that a Russian invasion would initially overrun large parts of the Baltics.
The aim was to quickly recapture these areas.
My news
Baerbock hits the Union with the K question at a carnival event - “... and get Söder” read
Putin's T-90 is defeated in a duel - a steel colossus full of weak points
Two in one fell swoop: Ukrainian drones take out Russian tanks read
If Russia wins: Hungarian right-wing extremist wants to annex Ukrainian territories read
Serious fraud in Ukraine: Officials stole $40 million - money was intended for ammunition read
French farmers attack foreign trucks and destroy goods - EU country issues travel warning read
But Russian atrocities in Ukraine made such a strategy intolerable.
Now NATO regularly declares that it will defend “every inch of its territory” and is increasing its military presence and exercises along the eastern flank.
The Bundeswehr is also expected to station a brigade permanently in Lithuania from the end of 2026.
Preparations are in full swing;
So far, the contingent has rotated every few months.
Modern Swedish hardware - like this Jas 39 Gripen E fighter jet over the Baltic Sea island of Gotland - will benefit after joining NATO.
The alliance then controls practically the entire Baltic Sea.
© HENRIK MONTGOMERY/AFP
Germany's Baltic Sea port of Rostock becomes a NATO hub
In Germany, a logistics port is currently being built in Rostock as a so-called NATO deployment hub, from which troops and material can be relocated to partner countries in the future.
The port of the Hanseatic city has direct access to the Oststee via the mouth of the Warnow.
With the deployment hub, Germany is providing a central logistical base for the defense of the eastern flank of the alliance area, Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced in November.
The base is being used as part of the largest NATO maneuver since the Cold War, called “Steadfast Defender”, which has been running since this week.
Over several months, around 90,000 soldiers from 31 countries simulate an attack by Russia on NATO territory, and thus the eventuality of the alliance.
At the beginning of May, troops and tanks from NATO nations are scheduled to arrive in Rostock by train to the port of Rostock, where they will be loaded onto a ship bound for Lithuania.
To this end, the maneuver envisages securing parts of the port area militarily.
With the start of the war, NATO also increased the air patrols over the Baltic Sea that rotated among NATO members.
These repeatedly intercept Russian fighter jets near NATO airspace.
The Italian command recently reported around 60 encounters with Russian jets between August and November.
With the accession of Finland and soon Sweden, it is clear that Russia's scope for maneuver will shrink as NATO's airspace and maritime territory in the Baltic Sea expand dramatically.
Access to the Baltic Sea is controlled by the NATO states Denmark and Norway, which borders Russia in the Arctic Sea.