The annual Baltops naval exercise concluded last week, and during the exercise, a Mistral-class ship – a French helicopter-carrying aircraft carrier the size of a Finnish ferry – operated for the first time in the Baltic Sea.
– This type of ship can operate anywhere in the world. Now it was important for France to send the signal that we can operate safely and together with NATO partners in this area, in the Baltic Sea, says ship commander Commander Olivier Roussille to SVT, who visits the ship FS Mistral when it is moored in Frihamnen in Stockholm.
Low overflights
He states that never before have so many large ships participated in Baltops as this year – and it attracted the attention of the Russian Baltic Navy.
– The Baltic Sea is a strategic area, so during Baltops we had contact with both Russian warplanes and warships. They are there in international waters where they can move freely.
He states that on several occasions Russian warplanes flew low over the participating NATO ships during Baltops.
– From the French side, we had no incidents, but there were other partner countries that had low overflights that were quite unprofessional and unsafe. This can be dangerous but mostly they do this to send a message to NATO countries that they have a strong presence in the area.
Retook Swedish territory
During Baltops, the French ship took part, among other things, in a moment where a training enemy corresponding to Russia took parts of the islands of Utö and Nåttarö in the Stockholm archipelago. The aircraft carrier was then used to retake the area with the help of French and Swedish forces who were driven ashore with landing craft which were also loaded with Swedish combat vehicles 90.
– We learned to operate in this type of archipelago and now we know that, yes, if one day we have to operate here, it will be possible, says Olivier Roussille.