This is the Finnish language article about Swedish opinions, use your favourite translator:
Ruotsalainen kommodori varoittaa Venäjän kasvaneista mahdollisuuksista laajentaa reviiriiän Itämeren alueella.
www.mtvuutiset.fi
Swedish Commodore urges Swedes to prepare for Russia's expanding territory: 'We need all the friends we can get'
A Swedish commodore warns of Russia's growing potential to expand its territory in the Baltic Sea region.
A golden opportunity may be opening up for Russia to start improving its position in the Baltic Sea and the Nordic region, warns Commodore Lars Wedin in a guest editorial published in Svenska Dagbladet.
Aukus turns the 'game board', Sweden must prepare
According to Wedin, Sweden should step up its own rearmament and prepare for the fact that the new Aukus defence cooperation agreement will weaken the British and US presence in Sweden's neighbourhood.
- The defence alliance between Australia, Britain and the US will turn the whole security policy game - including for Sweden. The alliance clearly shows how the US is prioritising developments in the South China Sea, Wedin writes.
- The UK is also apparently increasing its presence in the (Pacific) region. The result: the US and British presence in the Swedish part of the world will be substantially reduced.
"A golden opportunity may suddenly open up for Russia"
Wedin also highlights how the Aukus cooperation created a rift in relations between the Western NATO partners as well.
When Australia, Britain and the US announced the new cooperation, it also meant the collapse of the Franco-Australian submarine project.
France has felt betrayed by its allies. It invited home the ambassadors from Washington and Canberra.
- For Russia, this fracturing of relations with the West and the growing priority given to China in Britain and the United States means an increase in its own room for manoeuvre in Europe. Russia may suddenly have a golden opportunity to improve its strategic position in the North and the Baltic Sea.
"We need all the friends we can get"
For Sweden, Wedin says, the most important thing is to maintain transatlantic relations, but uncertainty has now increased.
- President Joe Biden shares the view of his predecessor Donald Trump that China is the number one priority - he just balances his words more. The US decision also shows that the country is prepared to thunder a close ally without warning. Sweden needs to understand this, Wedin says, pointing out that Sweden and the US are not allies.
In Wedin's view, Sweden should start to change its lukewarm attitude towards the EU's common defence.
- It is high time for Swedish security policy to reflect realism. We must stop opposing the EU's common defence. We need all the friends we can get. But in the end, we can only rely on ourselves - and perhaps our Nordic neighbours.
Commodore Wedin, 74, started his career in the Swedish Navy in the 1960s and 1970s, but moved to a specialist role in the early 1990s. These took him first to an advisory position with the CSCE, then to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then to the head of the Swedish National Defence College's Strategy Department, and then to the EU Military Staff in Brussels.
Wedin is also a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Military Science.
