Arctic Coalition Against Russia: the US Protects Scandinavia

How will this affect the situation at the front?

The Swedish parliament approved a defense agreement with the United States, according to which the country will provide the US with 17 military facilities.

As noted in the Swedish Ministry of Defense, the agreement creates better conditions for the United States to provide support to the country in the event of a crisis or war, which is also useful for stability throughout Northern Europe. Such a step gives greater protection to the Scandinavians from the insane Russian dictator, besides, the defense treaty between the countries will be applied "unhindered", despite Sweden's membership in NATO.

Recently, the United States signed similar defense cooperation agreements aimed at allowing the deployment of American troops in the Nordic countries of Finland and Denmark. Prior to that, the States amended the agreement on cooperation in the field of defense with Norway. All these countries are already NATO members, but when Russia is next to you, there could not be too much help. Therefore, such a step, on the one hand, gives greater protection to the Scandinavians from a possible Russian attack, and on the other hand, the Americans have begun to create a coalition to fight for the resources of the Arctic against Russia.

What does a defense treaty between the United States and the countries of Scandinavia mean and is such an option possible for Ukraine, according to OBOZ.UA.

North of Europe under the American umbrella

A defense pact between the US and Sweden would establish “conditions enabling U.S. forces to operate in the country,” especially “the legal status of U.S. military personnel, access to areas of deployment,” and “pre-positioning of weapons.” That is, after the ratification of this agreement by the Swedish parliament, American soldiers and military equipment will be deployed in this country legally.

The US Army gets unhindered access to 17 different Swedish military bases. The agreement also gives the US the right to deploy troops, conduct exercises and make refueling stops for aircraft and vessels.

Finland, Denmark and Norway have similar agreements with the US. Sweden gives the US the right to store weapons and ammunition on its bases. For the United States, this agreement provides access to important strategic locations near the Baltic States and the Northern Hemisphere.

Real protection

This agreement makes Sweden safer, says Patrik Kronqvist, political editor of Expressen. He calls it vital to his country. According to Patrik Kronqvist, Sweden has never been able to fully protect itself on its own, and American soldiers on its territory can now act as a deterrent to protect the country and population from the Russian threat. And that's true. Now, if you attack Sweden, you also attack the US. If the worst happens and Sweden is drawn into the war, it will receive quality assistance much faster. Given a neighbor like Putin's Russia, this is a very important step.

The United States created an Arctic anti-Russian coalition

Scandinavian defense cooperation agreements with the United States, the last of which was Sweden, give the US military wide access to territories in northern Europe and to the border with Russia. The agreement creates better conditions for the United States to provide support to these countries in the event of a crisis or war.

That is, now the US army has unhindered access to numerous military bases in Northern Europe (many located directly on the Russian border), where it will deploy military personnel, conduct exercises, store weapons and ammunition.

The activity of the Americans to create a certain northern coalition is logical, given that currently the Arctic states are considered to be the Russian Federation, Canada, the United States, Norway and Denmark, and Iceland, Sweden and Finland also claim this status, although they do not have oceanic borders with the Arctic. For the United States, this agreement opens up important strategic locations in the Northern Hemisphere and near the Russian border. For their part, the Scandinavians receive an American security umbrella and create an Arctic alliance against the Kremlin.

Russia is forced to react

Ukraine already benefits from the full-fledged presence of Americans in Northern Europe and the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. Russia is forced to strengthen its western border by creating two new military districts and increasing the number of armed forces. Which means stretching human and technical resources, with which Russia already has problems. And you still need to react. Two new military districts are being created – Moscow and Leningrad, as well as an army corps in Karelia.

The creation of the Moscow and Leningrad military districts is probably aimed at balancing the Russian military positions along the border with NATO, which has become much larger. Thus, the Leningrad Military District will be directly responsible for the territory bordering Finland, Sweden and the Arctic.

Ukraine is only interested in full NATO membership

“The security cooperation agreement between Sweden and the United States is directly related to Sweden's membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. We need to build on this fact. And since the main guarantor of security within the Alliance is the United States, thanks to those who have a nuclear umbrella, there is a need to specify the obligations on the one hand of Sweden as a member of NATO, and on the other hand of the United States as the main security provider within the Alliance," this opinion was expressed by the People's Deputy of Ukraine, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Policy and Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Oleksandr Merezhko in an exclusive comment for OBOZ.UA.

According to Oleksandr Merezhko, formally this international agreement is not connected with NATO, because it is bilateral, but, in fact, it follows from the fact that Sweden joined the Alliance and it is necessary to solve the issue of military-technical logistics: the location of American bases, the possible location of nuclear weapons.

Regarding the fact that it would be interesting to have such a safe agreement for Ukraine, Oleksandr Merezhko believes that as an interim option, while we are waiting for NATO membership, it may be, but still Ukraine is interested in membership in the Alliance.

"This is an interesting treaty, but Ukraine needs full membership in NATO. This is our main goal, and we cannot afford to be distracted by other options. Previously, there were ideas to consider a treaty similar to Israel. We discussed this in the Verkhovna Rada, by the way. There was such an idea – to apply to the United States on behalf of the Ukrainian parliament to obtain such a status. But this was rejected because we disoriented our partners. They don't understand what we want then. Therefore, we need to consistently defend a common position – NATO membership is a reliable guarantee of our security.

If we consider the Swedish version as strengthening our security before joining NATO, this is interesting. After all, it legally allows the stay of American troops and weapons in the country. Such steps indicate a much greater level of partnership and security guarantees. It also demonstrated the level of our relationship. It would also be a significant step towards joining NATO, because the state-leader of the organization shows its priorities. But if this proposal is instead of NATO membership, then this does not suit us," notes Oleksandr Merezhko.