With war next door, Finland, Sweden are training with NATO
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Setermoen (Norway) (AFP) – In a muddy parking lot in the northern northern part of Norway, Finnish troops show off their military power and set up rocket launchers, artillery and snowmobiles as they prepare to train with their NATO comrades-in-arms.
Although Finland’s and Sweden’s partnership with the Atlantic Alliance is nothing new, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has driven the two militarily non-aligned nations to further deepen their cooperation with NATO.
Norway’s Cold Response exercise, which is normally held every two years, aims to train NATO troops to cooperate in challenging winter conditions.
As in previous times, Norway has organized the exercise, Stockholm and Helsinki have sent large forces: 1,600 Swedish troops and 680 Finns.
– This is even more important this year because of Ukraine and the situation in our part of the world, says Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Hedmark, head of the Swedish military’s exercise planning, to AFP.
Nordic nations, regardless of whether they are members of NATO or not, are accustomed to working closely together. They share the same values, interests and cultures – and the same neighbor to the east, Russia.
“We are more or less like a family now,” Hedmark said.
“You do not always agree but you have a bond and … you have to take care of each other.”
“This is the nuclear family,” agrees Finnish General Manu Tuominen.
“But of course there are distant family members in any family, and we welcome all European friends and even transatlantic cooperation in this regard,” he said.
For Sweden and Finland, participation in Cold Response is not focused on learning to fight in challenging conditions, which are the same at home as in Norway.
Instead, their participation aims to increase their “interoperability”, or ability to fight a war with other Western countries.
“A strong signal”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed public opinion in the two Nordic countries.
For the first time, a majority of Swedes and Finns have gone out to join NATO, according to opinion polls published since the end of February.
Military officers from the two nations refuse to comment publicly on the politically sensitive issue, but insist that if and when it is time for NATO membership, they will be ready.
Stockholm and Helsinki have both ruled out joining for the time being, although the issue has been the subject of extensive political discussions in Finland.
If the Nordic countries joined NATO, it would “have serious military and political repercussions”, Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned at the end of February.
“This is an exercise that has been planned for a long time,” Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson insisted when she visited her country’s troops on Monday.
“But it is clear that with the security situation we have now, we are sending an important signal that there is cooperation and a readiness to defend our territory,” she said.
As a clear sign of their close ties, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian troops will soon wear the same uniform adapted to Arctic conditions, albeit with different camouflage patterns.
“I can assure you, on a daily basis … we already have close cooperation and participation in this exercise is a strong signal,” said General Jorg Vollmer, who leads NATO’s northern flank.
“We already train together, even though they are short of members,” he said.
“We look forward to (seeing) how this decision will be made.”
© 2022 AFP