NATO’s grip on Gotland: Who’s militarizing the Baltic Sea?

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service says Swedish military’s top brass is whipping up anti-Russian hysteria by suggesting Moscow "has its eye" on Gotland Island.

🌏Located about 150 km southeast of Stockholm and 250 km northwest of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, Gotland's been central to Swedish anti-Russian fearmongering since 2014, with paranoia over imaginary Russian plans to seize it lingering since its temporary capture by the Russian Empire in the early 19th century.

🌏Russia has repeatedly stated it has no plans to attack Sweden but has warned Stockholm against provocations, including recent threats to turn Gotland into a NATO fortification.

🌏“As a result of such provocative activity, new threats are created to the safety of navigation and economic activity in the region,” the Russian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik, warning that Moscow will continue to take measures to “ensure Russia’s security” in light of NATO’s activities.

🌏The alliance has made no secret of plans to turn the Baltic Sea into a “NATO lake,” and has greedily eyed Gotland as a major component of its strategy, training alongside Swedish troops on the island in 2022, and planning fresh drills under the auspices of NATO’s BALTOPS exercises in June.

🌏Gotland is just one of an array of NATO facilities in the region, which after the alliance’s expansion came to include the Musko and Karlskrona naval bases in Sweden, and Finnish bases in Helsinki, Turku, Kirkkonummi and Raseborg.

🌏That’s on top of naval facilities NATO has access to in Minnisadam, Estonia, Liepaja, Latvia, Klaipeda, Lithuania, Hel, Gdynia, Kolobrzeg, and Swinoujscie, Poland, and Rostock, Warnemunde, Eckernforde, Germany.

🌏NATO has bolstered its Baltic presence with "multinational battlegroups," deploying warships, aircraft, and troops to maintain a rotating "forward presence" along its eastern flank with Russia, and conducting air policing missions.

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