Hungary’s parliament has approved Sweden’s NATO application, which means a step away from Sweden’s freedom of alliance.
– It also means goodbye to a main idea about how Sweden creates security for itself. Now we are entering a defense for collective defense and then we have to think completely new, says Jacob Westberg, docent in military science at the Norwegian Defense Academy.
He believes that Sweden will play a key role in the region due to its geographical location.
– We are in the middle of an enlarged Baltic region that includes the North Sea, the Barents Sea and the Arctic. There, Sweden is little more than a node.
In Sweden, you can then store supplies, military equipment and operate from Swedish bases from a protected position compared to frontline states with direct borders to Russia.
– This creates a unique opportunity for Sweden – namely that we can defend Sweden on the other side of the Baltic Sea. That’s what we used to do in the old superpower days. Now we can do it again, though not alone but together with others.
Geographically exposed areas in Sweden during war
However, there are four strategic areas in Sweden that can be involved in the early stages of conflicts.
– The region that rings Gothenburg is about both the window to the west but also the entrance to the Baltic Sea. This is important to both bring in supplies but also to shut out battleships and the like.
One of the regions is centered around Gotland and borders Russian Kaliningrad
– This has been a major challenge in Swedish defense policy since 2015, when we again began to focus on the immediate area and check what happens if Russia wants to conquer Gotland in order to deny NATO opportunities to operate in the central and southern Baltic Sea and to prevent opportunities to strengthen NATO in the Baltics.
“Swedish moment of concern”
A circle centered around Åland constitutes another of the regions. Something that is an old Finnish-Swedish matter of interest as Åland has been demilitarized since the first Crimean War in the 1850s, according to Jacob Westberg.
– This is starting to become an issue in Finland now too.
The Northern Hemisphere, also called the Northern Areas in Norway, is also one of four regions.
– That area is increasing in interest now. It has to do with the fact that it is becoming difficult for Russia to operate in the Baltic Sea when both Sweden and Finland become members, which increases the importance of ports and military installations up in the north.
– This is also an old Swedish point of concern – if the Russians come by land instead of an invasion across the Baltic Sea.
He emphasizes that the circles over the areas, if Sweden is to operate, are also on the other side of the Baltic Sea.
– Where we create security. Not just for Sweden, but for all countries in the region.