On Sunday, the 51st military exercise Baltic Operation, Baltops, kicks off. Sweden is hosting this year’s exercise and that is why the ships gather in Stockholm just before it starts.
– Our navy is used to being on open water and has also quite recently returned from the desert in Afghanistan and Iraq. Participating in an exercise in the Baltic Sea region means a lot to us, says the US Vice Admiral Eugene Black, before the exercise.
Another worldview
The fact that the exercise takes place at the same time as an ongoing Swedish NATO application and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine makes it partly different, according to Sweden’s naval chief Ewa Skoog Haslum.
– It is different because we have a different worldview before our eyes. But it is an exercise that develops every year and is much more complex than when we started in the 1990s, she says.
The meeting was also attended by Luis Lanchares, Deputy Commander of the NATO Joint Forces in Brunsum, the Netherlands. Both he and Eugene Black certify that Sweden will be important partners and receive protection while the NATO application waits for a response, even if it takes time.
Just benefits
If Sweden becomes a member of NATO, it will take cooperation to the next level according to Black.
– There are only advantages to Sweden and Finland becoming members, they are already important partners. As a country with 200,000 islands, you are very good at this type of terrain. It gives us important experiences.
Asked if he is surprised by Russia’s situation in Ukraine, Eugene Black answered in the affirmative.
– We invest a lot in complex exercises and cooperation between forces on land, air and in water, and in that area Russia does not seem to have succeeded.