ABOARD USS KEARSARGE, in Stockholm port – If there was ever a powerful symbol of how much Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed Europe, it was this giant warship, with its 26 warplanes. Play with 2,400 Marines and sailors, anchored between the fun liner and the cruise ships that visit this port, it’s sure to be.
“No one in Stockholm can miss that there is a large American ship here in our city,” said Micael Byden, supreme commander of the Swedish Armed Forces. Clear skies on Saturday. “There are more possibilities on this ship,” he marveled, “than I can assemble in a garrison.”
In this longtime neutral country suddenly not so neutral, the USS Kearsarge, which emerged just two weeks after Sweden and Finland announced their intentions to become NATO members, is the promise of what status That membership would bring: protection if President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia channeled his anger toward his Nordic neighbors.
But the ship was also a warning to Sweden and Finland about their potential obligations should conflict arise, as General Mark Milley, America’s top military commander, made clear during the trip. visit on Saturday.
“The Russians have their Baltic fleet,” said General Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but NATO will have a series of member states surrounding the Baltic Sea once Sweden and Finland join. family. In essence, the Baltic will become a NATO lake, reserved for St.Petersburg and Kalingrad.
“From the Russians’ point of view, that would be very problematic for them, militarily,” General Milley said.
Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden, appearing at a news conference aboard the ship alongside General Milley, sought to emphasize the defensive nature of NATO.
However, military experts say there is a clear expectation that the entry of Sweden and Finland into the alliance will mean they will contribute to any maritime barriers that NATO may place in the South China Sea. Baltic in the event of war with Russia, a high potential order. for countries unrelated to history.
Both countries want security guarantees, especially from the United States and other NATO allies, in the interim while negotiations with Turkey are on full membership. of the military alliance. Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told reporters in Washington two weeks ago that the Pentagon had committed to a number of temporary security measures: US Navy warship plunges into the Baltic Sea, bombers of the Air Force flying over Scandinavia, ground forces with training and American experts help thwart any possible Russian cyberattacks.
But while President Biden has pledged that the United States will help defend Sweden and Finland before they join the alliance, US officials have declined to say specifically what form of help will come, beyond what. which General Milley described Saturday as a “modest increase” in military exercises.
Nordic officials admit that refusing any NATO country to send actual troops into Ukraine shows the difference between promises of military help to friendly countries and promises made under a treaty approved by the Senate. ratification says that an attack on one is an attack on all – NATO Article 5 famous.
However, the Kearsarge remains in the Baltic Sea to participate in exercises aimed at teaching NATO, Swedish and Finnish militaries how to conduct amphibious assaults – like storming the land already occupied by Russia. This is an extremely complex type of war operation – think the D-Day landings of World War II – that requires coordination between air, land, and naval units in what the experts say. military planners called the “combined weapons” mission.
If the exercise goes as planned, thousands of marines, sailors, pilots and other soldiers from 16 different countries will occupy a beach in the Stockholm archipelago.
That is precisely the kind of military operation that Russia has not been able to carry out in Ukraine yet, and the inability to do so, military experts say, is a big part of the reason, military experts say. why Russia could not capture the port city of Odesa, southern Ukraine. .
Pentagon officials note that when thousands of Russian marines landed in southern Ukraine on the coast of the Sea of Azov on February 25 to target Mariupol, they did so about 43 miles to the east. of the city, avoiding a controversial amphibious assault.
Russo-Ukrainian War: Main developments
On the ground. As air strikes intensify in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the main focus of Russia’s onslaught, Street fighting took place in the disputed city of Sievierodonetsk. Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary general, warned that the conflict appeared to have turned into a “war of attrition” and advised allies to prepare for the “long haul”.
Along with breaking the notion that the Russian military is an effective machine, Sweden and Finland’s offers to join NATO were perhaps the biggest unintended consequence of his decision to invade Ukraine. Putin. Instead, Putin is now facing the prospect of a NATO military alliance that is not just on his doorstep, but enclosed around part of the house.
Latvia and Estonia’s accession to NATO in 2004 extended the Baltic border with Russia just over 300 miles; Finland’s entry into the alliance would extend another 830 miles, bringing St. Petersburg was almost within range of the artillery.
Meanwhile, Sweden shares a maritime border with Russia and so does Finland. Within a day of Finland’s leaders announcing their country should apply to join NATO, the Kearsarge, named after the Civil War Confederacy best known for sinking Union ships, participated in the training of the Finnish and Swedish navies.
In fact, NATO has scheduled many shows of force against Sweden and Finland. “A lot of drills don’t exist in the exercise schedule,” said Charly Salonius-Pasternak, a military expert at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki.
The emerging partnership is a two-way street. For NATO, in addition to wrapping the alliance around Russia’s western border, the accession of Sweden and Finland allows military planners to reconnect all defenses in Northern Europe. Previously, the alliance had to compromise on where to gather troops, headquarters and command and control to bring the best advantage.
All of this is sure to draw the ire of Mr. Putin, who has long complained about expanding the military alliance into what he considers his sphere of influence.
“There will be a near-constant presence of non-Finnish military units in Finland,” said Mr. Salonius-Pasternak. “Are they the key to Finland’s defense? No. But it may add to the legacy of our eastern neighbor. “
