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Denmark, Sweden and Norway to Patrol Baltic Sea Together and Share Reconnaissance Data

Sputnik News

20220811
Igor Kuznetsov

Earlier, Sweden and Finland utilized the "Russian threat" as a pretext to file applications for NATO membership, abandoning decades of non-alignment. The very same "Russian threat" has also been used as a convenient justification to inflate military budgets across Scandinavia.

The Nordic countries of Sweden, Denmark and Norway have announced a new agreement on military cooperation in the Baltic Sea.

The three countries will cooperate in patrolling the sea areas and share satellite images and radar data — a move presented as a means of stopping "aggressive" and "unacceptable" Russian behavior in the form of "regular violations by Russian military aircraft and warships." Among other moves intended to ensure closer cooperation, Denmark will send liaison officers to both Sweden and Norway.

The Nordic countries' defense ministers presented the agreement symbolically in front of a Swedish patrol ship at the port of Malmö in Sweden, immediately after Swedish and Danish fighter jets had flown over in joint formation.

"We know what is going on in our waters", Danish Defense Minister Morten Bødskov said, citing several "violations" of Danish maritime areas and airspace since the start of Russia's special operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine and protect the inhabitants of the Donbass Republics, which he, in line with the rest of the West, referred to as an "invasion".

Among other things, Bødskov referred to an incident on June 17 this year, when a Russian warship allegedly entered Danish waters near the the country's easternmost island of Bornholm — accusations Russia declined to comment on or corroborate.

"You don't do that by accident, and it is of course completely unacceptable," the minister said, as quoted by Danish Radio.

His Swedish counterpart, Peter Hultqvist, argued that the agreement had drawn the three countries "closer" and showed that they can "take responsibility for this part of our geography."

The so-called "Russian threat" has been utilized before as a pretext for Sweden and Finland to abandon their long-standing non-alignment policies and file for joining NATO. In doing so, both cited a shift in the European security situation following the launch of Russia's military operation in Ukraine they, too, referred to as "invasion".

In return Russia pledged to closely follow the nations' actions and provide a "mirror response" to threats emerging from their membership in the alliance.

At the same time, the fictitious "Russian threat" had been used as a means to ensure a slew of military budget increases across Scandinavia, with Sweden announcing its decision to nearly double its military coffers earlier in April.

© Sputnik