Sweden sees Russian threat against big Baltic isle

Gotland has been a popular holiday destination for decades, but this week Swedish Commander-in-chief Mikael Bydén has claimed that Russian president Vladmir Putin “has his eyes” on the Baltic Sea island.

After Russia on Tuesday published an official document proposing to redefine the maritime borders in the Gulf of Finland, Bydén issued a reminder on Wednesday that Moscow’s ambitions extend much farther into the Baltic than the gulf. Events had already shown Gotland to figure large in those ambitions.

The draft decree by the Russian defense ministry, which was taken offline on Wednesday without explanation, proposed that Russia revise its borders based on a resolution adopted by the Soviet Union’s council of ministers in 1985 and expand its territorial waters.

Gotland holds a strategically important location in the middle of the Baltic Sea, halfway between the Swedish mainland and Estonia and only 300km from Kalingrad, the main base of Russia’s Baltic fleet.

Sweden’s joining NATO and giving the alliance access to Gotland significantly increased NATO’s ability to deploy and sustain its forces in the Baltic Sea region. This could make a decisive difference in the defense of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Poland.

Because of the island’s strategic importance, for most of the Cold War Sweden maintained a large military presence there. But Gotland was demilitarized in 2005, for the stated purpose of promoting peace and cooperation in the Baltic region.

This gesture of goodwill was immediately tested as Russian men who did not fit the usual Gotland tourist profile began regularly visiting the island.

Then, on March 29, 2013, two Tupolev Tu-22M3 nuclear bombers came within 24 miles of Gotland on dummy bombing runs.