Demonstrations against NATO drill in Sweden

50 airplanes and 2000 persons, aircraft carrier personnel included, from ten countries will take part in what will be the biggest air force drill ever in the Finnish-Swedish Bothnia Bay.

As BarentsObserver earlier reported, the F21 base outside Luleå, Northern Sweden, will serve as centre for the exercises, but air force bases in Finland and Norway will also be used.

The event has been met with demonstrations in Sweden. NATO has earlier conducted navy exercises on Swedish territory, but this is the first air force drill to be held in the neutral country. An organization called “NATO out of Sweden” has been established In Luleå and has organized demonstrations againt NATO’s use of Norrbotten County as training ground, Swedish Television reports.

- This [exercise] can be perceived as very provocative, says Anna-Karin Gudmundson from “NATO out of Sweden”. - The Barents region with its proximity to the Arctic makes it a sensitive area. With all the talk about melting ice and fight over natural resources this can look like a demonstration of power from NATO’s side, Gudmundsons says according to Sveriges Radio.

Swedish Minister of Defence Sten Tolgfors refuses that the drill is an approach to NATO:

- This is an exercise in crisis management on a UN mandate. The aim is to train on international operations together with other nations, and has nothing to do with Swedish NATO membership, Tolgfors says.

The main indigenous people of Northern Sweden, the Sami, are discontented with the fact that the “enemy nation” in the exercise’s scenario is called “Lapistan” and have joined the protesters against NATO in the demonstrations. The name is invented by NATO and resembles the derogatory term on Sami people, “Lapps”.