Sweden will come under NATO headquarters in Norfolk, US, but the island of Gotland may fall under the alliance’s command in Brunsum, the Netherlands. This was announced by Defense Minister Paul Johnson.
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“Now at the meeting in Washington it will be confirmed that Sweden and other Nordic countries will be under one command in North America, and this is good for defense cooperation between the Nordic countries,” the minister explained in an interview with SVT TV. “It is not determined exactly where this will take place.” border, there are slightly different opinions.”
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As SVT explains, there is a discussion within NATO about where exactly in the Baltic the line of responsibility should lie between the bloc’s commands in the United States and the Netherlands. One of the proposals under discussion is that the strategically important NATO islands in the Baltic Sea – Gotland, the Finnish Ålands and the Danish Bornholm – should be subject to headquarters in Brunsum, and the mainland of these countries to the headquarters in Norfolk. For Sweden this would mean that the border would be drawn between Gotland and the east coast of the kingdom.
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“This issue should be based on military, not political logic, and Sweden believes that we must hold all our territory together, there are other countries whose territory is divided between two different defense plans,” Johnson said.
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According to the Minister of Defense, demarcation will not be discussed at the NATO summit; the discussion will be conducted at the military level. He explained that a military expert commission is now considering where the boundaries of the areas of responsibility should lie, and this has not yet been determined. “There are several different opinions,” Johnson said.
