Page 29 - North Atlantic and Nordic Defense

North European and North Atlantic Defense: The Challenges Return

The Swedish government has decided to reintroduce military conscription – a move backed by the country’s MPs.

The decision means that 4,000 men and women will be called up for service from 1 January 2018, a defence
ministry spokeswoman told the BBC.

They will be selected from about 13,000 young people born in 1999, who will be asked to undergo a military
assessment, Marinette Nyh Radebo said.

Non-aligned Sweden is worried about Russia’s Baltic military drills.

In September, a Swedish garrison was restored to Gotland, a big island lying between the Swedish mainland and
the three ex-Soviet Baltic states.

Why is this happening?

Ms Nyh Radebo said the return to conscription was prompted by “the security change in our neighbourhood”.

“The Russian illegal annexation of Crimea [in 2014], the conflict in Ukraine and the increased military activity in
our neighbourhood are some of the reasons,” she said.
How will it work?

The 13,000 who undergo the military tests will be a mixture of volunteers and conscripts. “You are part of the
conscript system once you’ve done the tests – men and women are treated equally,” Ms Nyh Radebo said.

“The authorities choose the ones who are willing, interested and motivated.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39140100

The Russians have created their own impact from their actions in Ukraine and elsewhere, which is creating
significant concern and strengthening of defense capabilities in Northern Europe.

The Russian major ZAPAD 17 exercise has highlighted the capability of the Russian military to threaten
directly the Baltic and Nordic states.

And it also underscores the question of providing operative reminders of the Russian ability to threaten these
states might not be short sighted.

It is not unusual for Russia or the United States to exercise their forces and to test them in various scenarios.

Zapad 2017 is such an exercise but given its relative size and proximity to an area of clear European and
American concern (the Baltics) significant political sensitivities are raised.

The challenge always is to ensure that an exercise is not a prelude to an actual military operation something,
which Baltic states have more than a little historical reason to be concerned with.

And as the most significant area of NATO undergoing modernization is Northern Europe, the exercise is likely
to enhance the positions of the Nordics, the UK and other NATO states about the need to reinforce Northern
European defense.

That is why the political and military cost to Russia might well outweigh whatever training benefits might
accrue to the Russian forces.

(For a Russian discussion of ZAPAD 17 in which we participated, see the following:

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