Anglo-Polish military alliance. China and Russia create a military alliance - a counterbalance to NATO (1 photo) Defense cooperation in Scandinavia

China and Russia create a military alliance - a counterbalance to NATO
The two nuclear powers - Russia and China - are, in fact, beginning to deploy their own military alliance, which will become a counterbalance to the antagonistic NATO alliance. This is how experts and social networks comment on both the "unprecedentedly strengthened" partnership between the two "great neighbors" and the Chinese leader's statement about "intensifying Chinese-Russian cooperation in the field of law enforcement" security.
"The main news of the day - about the Russian-Chinese NATO - passed quietly. This is the nature of the main news," Russians living in China write. "Xi Jinping, having called his friend Vladimir, decided that it was time. Interesting changes are coming."
"As the international situation becomes more complicated, the intensification of contacts and coordination between China and Russia will become more and more necessary," the head of the Chinese state emphasized, - the "diplomatically eloquent" journalists of the Xinhua news agency hint as always.
Actually, it was not in vain that Shpiegel was already worried "Beijing and Moscow are preparing to conclude a new agreement on military-political cooperation, which can completely change the balance of power in the international arena." No wonder - if you remember, even Henry Kissinger said that "the Russian-Chinese alliance does not meet the interests of US national security"!
Indeed, the West has something to fear. No wonder the Zhenmin Ribao, published by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, frankly wrote that "the strategic rapprochement between China and Russia is becoming the anchor of world stability," and the PLA leadership directly ordered Ukraine "to stop the punitive operation. And the Chinese Global Times (in which, as you know, , "non-agreed" texts are not published) states "Against the backdrop of Russia and Putin, the US and Europe look like paper tigers."
But that's not all. As the Western press reports, "Even more is happening behind the scenes - experts from the Russian Foreign Ministry are already working on a draft agreement on "military-political cooperation" with China." And we are talking about something that is clearly more than the 2001 agreement between the Russian Federation and China "on good neighborliness, friendship and cooperation" - although even the 2001 agreement already provides for "military and military-technical cooperation between countries."
However, returning to the Chinese official press, it is worth recalling the materials that "China proposes to jointly restrain the activities of the United States" and "sees the Russian-Chinese mission in taming American imperial ambitions."
Experts, I remember, back in 2012 stated "the involvement of the Russian and Chinese armies in the integration process turns this entity into a powerful bloc that will become even more powerful than NATO led by the United States." They explained that "the mere addition of Russian and Chinese military potentials can lead to a discouraging result for Washington and its allies - if the military integration of China and Russia is carried out, then this will be a serious counterbalance to the existing" all-devouring "NATO policy."
Well, what. Apparently the time has come. Especially if you take into account at least an expert, at least everyday exposure of the myth-horror story about "Chinese plans to seize Siberia and the Far East" (take, for example, the fact that China issues school globes with Ukraine and Alaska as part of the Russian Federation, with Chinese "disputed" islands and without claims to the Far East). Or, most importantly, a "millennium contract" for hundreds of billions of dollars in oil and gas, not to mention the transition of China and the Russian Federation to settlements in rubles.
We think that the West also understands the futility of countering (at least military) such an alliance - and the "US nuclear war projects against Russia and China" voiced by American experts will remain only "virtual exercises" of American generals. soldiers of the nuclear forces) from time to time wake up, drink, sniff and lose control of nuclear weapons.
In any case, no matter how pathetic it may sound, the era of a unipolar world with the US hegemon is really over.

This was one of the first foreign policy successes of the German government under Hitler, and Poland was one of the first countries to conclude a peace treaty with Nazi Germany. The treaty was preceded by unsuccessful attempts by Poland to persuade its main ally France to go to war against Germany. France's rejection of the idea of war, as well as the pact of four (England, France, Italy, Germany) concluded in the summer of 1933, increased Poland's fears that the "big" powers would be ready to sacrifice the interests of the "small" ones in the event of a crisis.

On the eve of Munich, instructing his ambassador in Berlin for the forthcoming conversation with Hitler, the Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck sent him the following directive: in the broadest sense ...; 2. Poland considers the intervention of the Soviets in European affairs unacceptable ...; 4. During the past year, the Polish government rejected four times the proposal to join the international intervention in defense of Czechoslovakia. 5. Poland's direct claims on this issue are limited to the Cieszyn Silesia region " .

Article One of the Anglo-Polish Mutual Assistance Agreement read:

Under the "European state", as follows from the secret treaty, Germany was meant.

Analysis

At this time, Hitler demanded that Poland give up Danzig, access to the Berlin-Königsberg (Berlinka) autobahn and special rights (privileges) for the German minority in Poland. The General Protection Pact also contained provisions for assistance in the event of an "indirect threat" as well as threats of an economic nature (an explicit reference to Danzig's status). Fearing an all-out German attack, in spite of everything, Poland refused all German demands.

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland from the western side (World War II began). September 3, 1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany.

The Polish army immediately found itself in a semicircle. The German army attacked Poland from three sides. England and France, which had concluded allied treaties with Poland and were also preparing for hostilities, needed more than three weeks to carry out full mobilization, and England also needed time to transfer its main expeditionary forces to France.

Taking advantage of the inaction of England and France, the German command increased its strikes in Poland. With the rapid advance of German troops deep into Polish territory, disorganization grew in Poland. On September 5, Polish Ambassador W. Grzybowski asked for the supply of military materials and the transit of military cargo through the USSR to Poland. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR Molotov assured of the exact implementation of the trade agreement, but refused to transit. On the night of September 7, Commander-in-Chief E. Rydz-Smigly left Warsaw. By the beginning of the German offensive on Warsaw, the Polish government moved to the East on September 6, to Lublin, on September 9 to Kremenets, and on September 13 to Zalishchyky, a town north of Chernivtsi. On September 14, the Germans surrounded Warsaw. On the night of September 18 - almost a day after the Soviet invasion of Poland - the Polish government crossed the Romanian border. This saved him from a high probability of being captured by the Soviet troops.

Along the same Romanian corridor, following their government, about 120,000 Polish soldiers entered Romania and Hungary. Most of them later fought against the Germans as part of the British troops.

The French air force was limited to reconnaissance. On September 4, 29 British bombers went on a raid on a raid in Kiel. Three low-altitude bombs hit the battleship Admiral Scheer but did not explode. At the same time, the bombers suffered heavy losses. The French army, advancing several kilometers towards the enemy, stopped in front of the German fortifications. Before the defeat of Poland, England and France provided her with practically no real help. And the massive invasion of the half-million Red Army from the east quickly completed the defeat of the Polish army.

Only by mid-October, two corps took up positions on the Belgian-French border between the cities of Molde and Bayel, far enough from the front line.

On September 17, 1939, Soviet troops launched an invasion of Poland from the east. To do this, his army formed three fronts. After a series of local battles, the Red Army occupied the eastern territories of Poland, which were dominated by the Ukrainian and Belarusian population. Simultaneously with these territories, the USSR annexed the region of Bialystok with a predominantly Polish population. With further advancement, the troops of the regular Polish army encountered by the units of the Red Army did not mainly offer resistance and were disarmed or surrendered, partly tried to retreat to Lithuania, Hungary or Romania. Organized resistance to units of the Red Army was provided in the cities of Vilna, Grodno, Tarnopol, the village of Navuz, the village of Borovichi (near Kovel), in the Sarnensky fortified area. In a number of settlements in Western Ukraine, there were demonstrations initiated by OUN supporters directed against ethnic Poles, which in some cases were brutally suppressed by the retreating Polish units.

The troops of the Red Army that entered on September 17 were forbidden to shell and bomb settlements, as well as to conduct military operations against the Polish troops if they did not resist. The soldiers were explained that they were going to Western Belarus and Western Ukraine not as conquerors, but as liberators of the Ukrainian and Belarusian brothers from the oppression, exploitation and power of the landlords and capitalists. When meeting with German troops, the troops were ordered not to give reasons for provocations and not to allow the Germans to capture territories inhabited by Belarusians and Ukrainians. In case of attempts of such a capture by individual German units, in spite of everything, engage in battle with them and give the Nazis a decisive rebuff.

During the invasion of Poland by the Red Army, according to official Soviet data, announced by Molotov at the session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on October 31, 1939, the Red Army lost 737 killed and 1,862 wounded.

Thus, the USSR avoided a possible declaration of war by England, France and other states. The Polish ambassador in London, Edward Rachinsky, appealed to the British Foreign Office and asked England to declare war on the USSR, citing that Poland itself would not declare war on the USSR. The Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax (Edward Wood) reminded him that it remains the prerogative of England to declare or not to declare war on the Soviet Union. . In addition, the text of the pact contained an additional secret protocol where the attacking "European power" was interpreted as "Germany", so that the British government was not obliged in this case to declare war on the USSR. It is unknown if Rachinsky knew about this secret protocol when he met with Wood.

According to the three-volume analytical work on the analysis of the Polish campaign, conducted by Colonel Marian Porwit (who led the defense of Warsaw in September 1939) “Comments on Polish defensive actions in September 1939” (1969-1978), serious political, strategic and tactical mistakes and miscalculations were made during the war who played a significant role in the defeat of the country. Moreover, both the main command as a whole, and personal, lying on the conscience of individual military leaders. The author also points to the premature abandonment of Warsaw by the General Staff, which led to the disorganization of the troops in the conditions of maximum centralization of the military command. Moreover, in the basements of the Ministry of Military Affairs (Defence) there was a well-equipped command post with modern means of communication. Some generals left the troops entrusted to them, which can be regarded as desertion. Stefan Domb-Bernatsky (twice as commander of the Prussian Army and the Northern Front), Kazimierz Fabricy (Carpathian Army), Juliusz Rummel (Lodz Army), Władysław Boncza-Uzdowski (28th Infantry Division) and Colonel Edward Doyan-Surovka (left his 2nd Infantry Division at the moment of a nervous breakdown). No decisions on the actions of these commanders were made by the commander-in-chief.

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An excerpt characterizing the Anglo-Polish military alliance

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The French troops were gradually melting away in a mathematically correct progression. And that crossing over the Berezina, about which so much has been written, was only one of the intermediate steps in the destruction of the French army, and not at all the decisive episode of the campaign. If so much has been written and written about the Berezina, then on the part of the French this happened only because on the Berezinsky broken bridge, the disasters that the French army had previously suffered evenly, suddenly grouped here at one moment and into one tragic spectacle, which everyone remembered. On the part of the Russians, they talked and wrote so much about the Berezina only because far from the theater of war, in St. Petersburg, a plan was drawn up (by Pfuel) to capture Napoleon in a strategic trap on the Berezina River. Everyone was convinced that everything would actually be exactly as planned, and therefore they insisted that it was the Berezinsky crossing that killed the French. In essence, the results of the Berezinsky crossing were much less disastrous for the French in the loss of guns and prisoners than the Red, as the figures show.
The only significance of the Berezinsky crossing lies in the fact that this crossing obviously and undoubtedly proved the falsity of all plans for cutting off and the validity of the only possible course of action required by both Kutuzov and all the troops (mass) - only following the enemy. The crowd of Frenchmen ran with an ever-increasing force of speed, with all their energy directed towards the goal. She ran like a wounded animal, and it was impossible for her to stand on the road. This was proved not so much by the arrangement of the crossing as by the movement on the bridges. When the bridges were broken through, unarmed soldiers, Muscovites, women with children, who were in the French convoy - everything, under the influence of inertia, did not give up, but ran forward into the boats, into the frozen water.
This endeavor was reasonable. The position of both the fleeing and the pursuing was equally bad. Staying with his own, each in distress hoped for the help of a comrade, for a certain place he occupied among his own. Having given himself over to the Russians, he was in the same position of distress, but he was placed on a lower level in the section of satisfying the needs of life. The French did not need to have correct information that half of the prisoners, with whom they did not know what to do, despite all the desire of the Russians to save them, were dying of cold and hunger; they felt that it could not be otherwise. The most compassionate Russian commanders and hunters of the French, the French in the Russian service could not do anything for the prisoners. The French were ruined by the disaster in which the Russian army was. It was impossible to take away bread and clothes from hungry, necessary soldiers, in order to give them not to harmful, not hated, not guilty, but simply unnecessary Frenchmen. Some did; but that was the only exception.
Behind was certain death; there was hope ahead. The ships were burned; there was no other salvation but a collective flight, and all the forces of the French were directed to this collective flight.
The farther the French fled, the more miserable were their remnants, especially after the Berezina, on which, as a result of the St. Petersburg plan, special hopes were placed, the more the passions of the Russian commanders flared up, blaming each other and especially Kutuzov. Believing that the failure of the Berezinsky Petersburg plan would be attributed to him, dissatisfaction with him, contempt for him and teasing him were expressed more and more strongly. Joking and contempt, of course, was expressed in a respectful form, in a form in which Kutuzov could not even ask what and for what he was accused. He was not spoken seriously; reporting to him and asking his permission, they pretended to perform a sad ceremony, and behind his back they winked and tried to deceive him at every step.
All these people, precisely because they could not understand him, it was recognized that there was nothing to talk about with the old man; that he would never understand the full depth of their plans; that he would answer his phrases (it seemed to them that these were only phrases) about the golden bridge, that it was impossible to come abroad with a crowd of vagabonds, etc. They had already heard all this from him. And everything he said: for example, that you have to wait for provisions, that people are without boots, it was all so simple, and everything they offered was so complicated and clever that it was obvious to them that he was stupid and old, but they were not powerful, brilliant commanders.
Especially after the unification of the armies of the brilliant admiral and the hero of St. Petersburg Wittgenstein, this mood and staff gossip reached its highest limits. Kutuzov saw this and, sighing, shrugged his shoulders. Only once, after the Berezina, did he get angry and write to Bennigsen, who delivered the following letter to the sovereign separately:
“Due to your painful seizures, if you please, Your Excellency, upon receipt of this, go to Kaluga, where you await further command and appointment from His Imperial Majesty.”
But after Benigsen's departure, the Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich came to the army, who made the beginning of the campaign and was removed from the army by Kutuzov. Now the Grand Duke, having arrived at the army, informed Kutuzov about the displeasure of the Emperor for the weak successes of our troops and for the slowness of movement. The Sovereign Emperor himself intended to come to the army the other day.
An old man, just as experienced in court affairs as in military affairs, that Kutuzov, who in August of that year was chosen commander-in-chief against the will of the sovereign, the one who removed the heir and the Grand Duke from the army, the one who, by his power, in opposition to the will of the sovereign, ordered the abandonment of Moscow, this Kutuzov now immediately realized that his time was over, that his role had been played and that he no longer had this imaginary power. And it was not just from court relations that he realized this. On the one hand, he saw that the military business, the one in which he played his role, was over, and he felt that his calling had been fulfilled. On the other hand, at the same time he began to feel physical weariness in his old body and the need for physical rest.
On November 29, Kutuzov entered Vilna - his good Vilna, as he said. Twice in his service, Kutuzov was governor in Vilna. In the rich surviving Vilna, in addition to the comforts of life, which he had been deprived of for so long, Kutuzov found old friends and memories. And he, suddenly turning away from all military and government concerns, plunged into an even, familiar life as much as he was given rest by the passions that boiled around him, as if everything that was happening now and about to happen in the historical world did not concern him at all.
Chichagov, one of the most passionate cut-offers and overturners, Chichagov, who wanted to first make a diversion to Greece, and then to Warsaw, but did not want to go where he was ordered, Chichagov, known for his bold speech with the sovereign, Chichagov, who considered Kutuzov blessed by himself, because when he was sent in the 11th year to conclude peace with Turkey, in addition to Kutuzov, he, convinced that peace had already been concluded, admitted to the sovereign that the merit of making peace belongs to Kutuzov; this Chichagov was the first to meet Kutuzov in Vilna at the castle where Kutuzov was supposed to stay. Chichagov in a naval uniform, with a dagger, holding his cap under his arm, gave Kutuzov a drill report and the keys to the city. That contemptuous respectful attitude of young people towards the old man who had gone out of his mind was expressed to the highest degree in the entire appeal of Chichagov, who already knew the accusations leveled against Kutuzov.
Speaking with Chichagov, Kutuzov, among other things, told him that the carriages with dishes he had recaptured from him in Borisov were intact and would be returned to him.
- C "est pour me dire que je n" ai pas sur quoi manger ... Je puis au contraire vous fournir de tout dans le cas meme ou vous voudriez donner des diners, [You want to tell me that I have nothing to eat. On the contrary, I can serve you all, even if you wanted to give dinners.] - flaring up, said Chichagov, who wanted to prove his case with every word and therefore assumed that Kutuzov was also preoccupied with this. Kutuzov smiled with his thin, penetrating smile and, shrugging his shoulders, answered: - Ce n "est que pour vous dire ce que je vous dis. [I only want to say what I say.]
In Vilna, Kutuzov, contrary to the will of the sovereign, stopped most of the troops. Kutuzov, as his close associates said, unusually sank and physically weakened during his stay in Vilna. He reluctantly took care of the affairs of the army, leaving everything to his generals and, while waiting for the sovereign, indulged in a dispersed life.
Having left with his retinue - Count Tolstoy, Prince Volkonsky, Arakcheev and others, on December 7 from Petersburg, the sovereign arrived in Vilna on December 11 and drove straight to the castle in a road sleigh. At the castle, despite the severe frost, there were about a hundred generals and staff officers in full dress uniform and an honor guard of the Semenovsky regiment.
The courier, who galloped to the castle on a sweaty troika, ahead of the sovereign, shouted: "He's on his way!" Konovnitsyn rushed into the hall to report to Kutuzov, who was waiting in a small Swiss room.
A minute later, a fat, large figure of an old man, in full dress uniform, with all the regalia covering his chest, and his belly pulled up by a scarf, swaying, came out onto the porch. Kutuzov put on his hat along the front, took gloves in his hands and sideways, stepping with difficulty down the steps, stepped down from them and took in his hand the report prepared for submission to the sovereign.
Running, whispering, the troika still desperately flying by, and all eyes were fixed on the jumping sleigh, in which the figures of the sovereign and Volkonsky were already visible.
All this, according to fifty years of habit, had a physically unsettling effect on the old general; he anxiously hurriedly felt himself, straightened his hat, and at that moment, as the sovereign, getting out of the sleigh, raised his eyes to him, cheered up and stretched out, filed a report and began to speak in his measured, ingratiating voice.
The emperor glanced at Kutuzov from head to toe, frowned for a moment, but immediately, overcoming himself, came up and, spreading his arms, hugged the old general. Again, according to the old, familiar impression and in relation to his sincere thoughts, this embrace, as usual, had an effect on Kutuzov: he sobbed.
The sovereign greeted the officers, with the Semyonovsky guard, and, shaking the old man's hand once more, went with him to the castle.
Left alone with the field marshal, the emperor expressed his displeasure at the slowness of the pursuit, for the mistakes in Krasnoye and on the Berezina, and told him his thoughts on the future campaign abroad. Kutuzov did not make any objections or comments. The same submissive and senseless expression with which, seven years ago, he listened to the orders of the sovereign on the field of Austerlitz, was now established on his face.
When Kutuzov left the office and with his heavy, diving gait, head down, walked down the hall, someone's voice stopped him.
“Your Grace,” someone said.
Kutuzov raised his head and looked for a long time into the eyes of Count Tolstoy, who, with some small thing on a silver platter, stood in front of him. Kutuzov did not seem to understand what they wanted from him.
Suddenly, he seemed to remember: a barely perceptible smile flickered on his plump face, and he, bending low, respectfully, took the object lying on the dish. It was George 1st degree.

The next day, the field marshal had a dinner and a ball, which the sovereign honored with his presence. Kutuzov was granted George 1st degree; the sovereign gave him the highest honors; but the sovereign's displeasure against the field marshal was known to everyone. Decency was observed, and the sovereign showed the first example of this; but everyone knew that the old man was to blame and good for nothing. When at the ball Kutuzov, according to the old Catherine's habit, at the entrance of the sovereign into the ballroom, ordered the taken banners to be thrown down at his feet, the sovereign grimaced unpleasantly and uttered words in which some heard: "the old comedian."
The displeasure of the sovereign against Kutuzov intensified in Vilna, especially because Kutuzov, obviously, did not want or could not understand the significance of the upcoming campaign.
When the next day in the morning the sovereign said to the officers gathered at his place: “You saved more than one Russia; you saved Europe,” everyone already understood then that the war was not over.
Only Kutuzov did not want to understand this and openly expressed his opinion that a new war could not improve the position and increase the glory of Russia, but could only worsen its position and reduce the highest degree of glory on which, in his opinion, Russia now stood. He tried to prove to the sovereign the impossibility of recruiting new troops; talked about the plight of the population, about the possibility of failure, etc.

No less powerful air force than the UK, more tanks than France, three times more artillery than any EU country.

The Scandinavian Defense Alliance would become a military superpower - and many experts believe that this is necessary.

“All of our Scandinavian countries are too small to be able to defend themselves,” explains Professor Stefan Forss.

Sweden and Finland do not want to join NATO. And even if they would like to, then with Donald Trump in the White House, one cannot be sure that the application for entry will be considered quickly and with a positive result.

Therefore, filing such an application today would be an extremely risky gamble.

“All our Scandinavian countries are too small to defend themselves. Individually, we are quite weak,” says Stefan Forss.

In a 2015 report, he writes that "the long-term goal for the Scandinavian countries should be to develop the ability to fight as a unit." This implies total integration.

“An interaction in which forces come together in an attempt to minimize the weaknesses that each individual has with mutual help,” explains Stefan Forss.

aircraft combination

Finnish formations could help the Swedes track down submarines, a Swedish mechanized battalion could join the Finnish armored brigade.

“The Air Force has participated in joint exercises for many years, and their condition already now allows them to interact. Instead of one division of combat aircraft, which includes only Gripen, you can consider a combination with Norwegian F-35s when they are available, and Finnish Hornets, and the elements should be combined in the most effective way.

Stig Rydell was formerly an Air Force arms control officer and worked abroad for more than seven years in Norway, Finland and the NATO Joint Combat Training Center in Stavanger.

He sees several ways to make the alliance more powerful than just the sum of its parts.

“Swedish ability to react quickly can be combined with Finnish endurance. Sweden now has a high degree of readiness of army formations, and it can quickly bring them into action, but we have limited endurance. Finland has higher stamina due to conscription but needs more time to mobilize. In addition, greater operational depth could be achieved if Finnish aircraft could be based in Sweden and vice versa on a more regular basis. Sweden has submarines and Finland doesn't, and that could be an addition too."

"Raise Threshold"

Robert Dalsjö, a security policy analyst at the Total Defense Research Institute (FOI), also believes that closer cooperation could enhance the effect in many areas.

“We must raise the threshold for potential Russian adventures. Deeper cooperation will definitely contribute to this,” he says.

But he emphasizes that one should not go too far.

In-depth Scandinavian cooperation was most active in the mid-2000s. Robert Further describes how the Norwegian commander of the armed forces Sverre Diesen (Sverre Diesen) and the Swedish commander-in-chief Håkan Syrén noticed that their armed forces began to decline so quickly that some functions practically disappeared.

Therefore, discussions began on joint activities such as the higher school of defense, logistics and factories, as well as the joint purchase of ammunition in order to reduce prices.

“Here they entered a very insecure area, and Swedish-Norwegian relations quickly deteriorated. In principle, it was possible to come to an agreement, for example, on the need for a higher defense school, but it was not possible to decide in which country they should be located. Also, in principle, it was possible to agree that it would be profitable to buy howitzers and trucks together, but everything immediately fell apart when it came to details, ”says Robert Further.

“We need to beware of things that we know are very difficult, such as setting up new functional activities and general purchases. It's better to focus on education, training and sharing the existing infrastructure."

"Not very attractive"

In terms of pure security policy, the incentives for an alliance are also not the same. Norway and Denmark are already in NATO and are not as keen on Scandinavian cooperation, while Finland's proximity to Russia - and its shared history with that country - makes security guarantees a more attractive aspect for it.

“Finland, of course, would be happy to create a defense alliance with Sweden. But Sweden, for obvious reasons, is not very attractive,” says Stefan Forss.

Another factor is the importance of national self-determination. Full-fledged military planning without regard to national borders is unlikely.

“Norwegians, Finns and a small number of astute Swedes think something like this: it is, of course, very good to receive confirmation of commitments from neighboring countries. But to refuse to develop one's own defense might is still to take a risk. You may think you don't need a chainsaw since you can always borrow one from your neighbor. But what happens if the neighbor leaves for the week or doesn't want to borrow the saw just when you need it? Closer cooperation requires much more trust than what is possible today,” says Robert Further.

The merger of the Scandinavian military forces and the plan to “take the army from Finland, the air force from Sweden, and the navy from Norway,” as US General John J. Sheehan wanted back in 1994, are now irrelevant.

“You need to be very careful, clearly distribute roles, this is an unfortunate decision. NATO's experience shows that no country there has its own resources. And I want to have national freedom of action, ”comments Stig Rudell.

Defense cooperation in Scandinavia

The military forces of the Scandinavian countries are cooperating today within the framework of Nordefco (Nordic defense - Northern European Defense Alliance). Countries take turns chairing. Recently, among other things, the rules for moving military formations across borders in peacetime have been simplified.

One of Nordefco's goals is to support cooperation in the field of procurement of ammunition and weapons, which in theory should lead to the acquisition of better goods at a lower cost and increased opportunities for interaction between countries.

In practice, however, this proved difficult.

For example, Norway suddenly refused to participate in the joint purchase of new Archer artillery systems with Sweden, in connection with which Sweden had to redeem the entire order itself.

In addition, Norway ordered new submarines from the German Thyssen Krupp, ignoring the Swedish company Saab, which also produces submarines of the new model, A26, for the Swedish defense.

Defense of Scandinavia

Personnel

Sweden: 29,750 (active)

Finland: 22,200 (active), 354,000 (in reserve)

Denmark: 17,200 (active), 53,500 (in reserve)

Norway: 23,550 (active), 45,940 (in reserve)

Total: 92,700 (active), 453,440 (in reserve)

tanks

Sweden: 120 ("Leopard 2A5")

Finland: 120 (100 Leopard 2A4, 20 Leopard 2A6)

Denmark: 55 ("Leopard 2A4/A5")

Norway: 52 ("Leopard 2A4")