Sweden holds biggest war games in 20 years
GOTHENBURG: Neutral Sweden has launched its biggest war games in two decades with support from Nato countries, drilling 19,000 troops after years of spending cuts that have left the country fearful of Russia’s growing military strength.
On the eve of Russia’s biggest manoeuvres since 2013, which Nato says will be greater than the 13,000 troops Moscow says are involved, Sweden will simulate an attack from the east on the Baltic island of Gotland, near the Swedish mainland.
‘‘The security situation has taken a turn for the worse,’’ Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces Micael Byden said during a presentation of the threeweek exercise.
Sweden, like the Baltics, Poland and much of the West, has been deeply troubled by Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula Crimea and its support for rebels in eastern Ukraine.
‘‘Russia is the country that affects security in Europe right now with its actions — the annexation of the Crimea and continued battles in eastern Ukraine — so it is clear that we are watching very closely what Russia is doing,’’ Byden said.
About 1500 troops from the US, France, Norway and other Nato allies are taking part in the exercise, dubbed Aurora.
NonNato member Sweden has decided to beef up its military after letting spending drop from over 2% of economic output in the early 1990s to about 1%, and is reintroducing conscription.
The armed forces, which at one point could mobilise more than 600,000, stand at just 20,000, with 22,000 more Home Guard volunteers.
The Government is determined to stick to the country’s formal neutrality. Sweden has not fought a war since it clashed with Norway in 1814.
But like its nonNato neighbour Finland, Sweden has been drawing closer to Nato, with a view to working together in the event of an armed conflict.