Does Sweden Joining Make The Baltic Sea A 'NATO Lake'?

Brussels, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Feb, 2024) Sweden's accession to NATO adds a final puzzle piece to the alliance around the shores of the strategically important Baltic Sea -- but Russia still poses a threat above and below water.

After Finland joined last year, Sweden's membership -- which looks set to clear the final hurdle Monday with Hungary's vote on ratification later on Monday -- means all the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea, except Russia, will be part of the US-led military alliance.

That has led some to label the sea a "NATO lake", with the Western allies now appearing well-placed to strangle Russia's room for manoeuvre in the crucial shipping route if a war with Moscow ever breaks out.

But analysts warn that while Sweden's entry makes it easier for NATO to exert control and reinforce its vulnerable Baltic states, Russia can still menace the region from heavily-armed exclave Kaliningrad and threaten undersea infrastructure.

"If you look at a map then geographically the Baltic Sea is becoming a NATO lake, yes," said Minna Alander a research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

"But there is still work to do for NATO."

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a series of high-profile incidents involving pipelines and cables under the Baltic Sea have given NATO a wake-up call over its vulnerabilities.

In September 2022 a sabotage attack hit the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Europe. Over a year on, investigators have still not publicly named those responsible.

Then last October a gas pipeline and a cable from Finland and Sweden to Estonia were damaged. Finnish police say they believe a Chinese cargo ship was likely involved.

NATO has bolstered its naval deployments in response and is looking to step up its monitoring capabilities, but keeping an eye on what's happening beneath the water is a major task.

"It's very difficult to have overall control of a sea as you would control territories on land," said Julian Pawlak, a researcher at Germany's Bundeswehr University in Hamburg.

"What the Nord Stream sabotages have shown, among others, is that it remains hard to be aware exactly what is happening below the surface and on the seabed."