Under the red-green government and Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist (S), Sweden has signed several new military cooperation agreements with the United States. This means that the government believes that the relationship with the United States is of great importance for Sweden's security policy - the so-called "transatlantic link".

It was emphasized in both the government declaration and the foreign declaration 2019.

Now, the United States is directing 3,000 Marine Corps soldiers from the Cold Response exercise in Norway in March to the Middle East, according to information in Norwegian media.

- It can have significance in the long run. If the United States decides that the Middle East is more important than Northern Europe, it may be a weakening of the transatlantic link seen here, says Niklas Granholm, security policy analyst at the Swedish Defense Research Institute (FOI).

He continues:

- The decisive factor is how this development is interpreted by Russia. “Is this a weakening of US support for Northern Europe? Do we win it? Does that give us more leeway? ”Thinks Russia, says Granholm.

Anna Wieslander, Northern European Head of the American think tank Atlantic Council. Photo: TT

The Northern European head of the American think tank Atlantic Council, Anna Wieslander, considers the development to be problematic.

"There is no good signal for security in Northern Europe," she says.

- The United States cannot be everywhere. How do we prepare if the US reinforcement does not arrive as quickly as we anticipated in the event of a major crisis in the north? says Wieslander.

Some of the US naval combat vehicles have been shipped to Finland from storage rooms in Norway where they are stored in advance. Photo May 2, 2019. Photo: United States Navy Corps, Devin Andrews

Norwegian mountains

During the Cold War, the United States Navy launched advance storage of military equipment in storage rooms in Norway. Combat vehicles, armor, ammunition and other important equipment can be deployed in a military conflict in Scandinavia.

- The US Navy is a high-readiness unit and modern equipment and has the character of elite units. They can be deployed at short notice across much of the world, says Niklas Granholm at FOI.

He believes that the consequence is also that several thousand navy soldiers are now losing out on the opportunity to learn how to operate in northern Scandinavia under Nordic winter conditions.

- This is knowledge that had been well developed during the Cold War and which has now begun to recover, he says.