US Uses 'Russian Threat' to Sell NATO Membership to Sweden - Swedish Expert

Recently, US think-tank Center for European Policy Analysis suggested that Russia is seeking to invade the Baltic region. Russian Presidential Chief-of-Staff Sergei Ivanov replied that such a plan would be “suicidal” and viewed the allegations as nonsense.

A researcher at the Swedish National Defense College, Peter Mattsson, said that the US report on the alleged "Russian threat" to the Baltic region is nothing else, but a part of the information war.

According to him, the United States is trying to convince Sweden and other countries that they are vulnerable without American troops and that Russia is planning to invade the region, Aftonbladet wrote.

US analysts, among others, reported that Russian military maneuvers had been designed to rehearse the "invasion" of the Scandinavian Islands and other territories in the Baltic region.

Russia trains its troops as other countries do. The assumption that the islands can actually be attacked is a speculation, Mattsson said

Russia trains its military just as Sweden does. Moreover, Swedish troops several times conducted war games, which included the scenario of Gotland's seizure by an enemy, the analyst noted.

According to him, the aim of the US-designed report is to influence Sweden's attitude toward NATO.

"The US seeks to portray Russia as serious threat, which can be handled only with the US presence," the analyst concluded.