Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to “gain control of the Baltic Sea” and threaten NATO, according to Sweden’s top military officer.
“Putin’s goal is to gain control of the Baltic Sea,” Gen. Micael Bydén, the chief of defense for the Swedish armed forces, told German media outlets, per Politico. “The Baltic Sea must not become Putin’s playground where he terrifies NATO members.”
Bydén, who has served as Swedish chief of defense since 2015, avowed that “Putin even has both eyes on Gotland” — a large Swedish island in the Baltic Sea that has been part of NATO territory since March. And his warning coincided with the publication of a draft Russian government document that stoked regional fears that Moscow intends to enact unilateral changes of Russia’s maritime borders in the Baltic Sea.
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