Large Russian military exercise in Baltic Sea area involves tens of thousands of troops

Protection of Nord Stream gas pipeline also being rehearsed

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Russia is flexing its military muscles in an exceptionally showy fashion on the Baltic Sea and in the nearby areas in August and September.
      The Ladoga-2009 military exercise, which is scheduled to last for a month and a half, has already commenced in the vicinity of Lake Ladoga, reports news agency Ria Novosti, referring to information from military sources.
      In September another military exercise Zapad-2009 will be held in Kaliningrad and Belarus.
     
According to Ria Novosti, General Nikolai Makarov, commander of the Russian armed forces, has said that in excess of 60,000 troops will take part in the exercise.
      All units of the Leningrad military district are taking part in the Ladoga-2009 exercise, where they are accompanied by several detachments of the Siberian military district, interior troops and border guards, plus the Baltic and Northern fleets.
      In the Zapad (“West”) exercise, Russian troops will be sent to Belarus. The two countries have a joint air defence strategy.
      The Zapad exercise will extend to the Russian side as well. According to Swedish sources, Zapad will include landing troops, hundreds of armoured vehicles, aircraft, and helicopters.
      The ultimate truth about the actual number of the participating troops is difficult to determine, as some of the soldiers and materiel may be mere “virtual troops” that only exist on maps.
     
Many military experts in Russia, Sweden, and Finland consider the safeguarding of the planned Nord Stream gas pipeline that would run along the bottom of the Baltic Sea as one of the aims of the Ladoga-2009 drill in particular.
      According to one Finnish military expert, once completed the Nord Stream pipeline will be of such importance to Russia that rehearsing its protection is worth the effort, even well in advance.
      In Finland the gas pipeline project is primarily regarded as an environmental question, whereas in Sweden concerns have been voiced over the undertaking’s security-political dimensions.
      In the Baltic States the pipeline has even been characterised as the new Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
     
“The Swedes are clearly nervous about the pipeline issue, as they reduced their defence preparedness in the Baltic Sea after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now it seems the Russians are coming back, and that makes them uneasy”, says Docent Alpo Juntunen from the Finnish National Defence University.
     
Special Adviser Hiski Haukkala from the Unit for Policy Planning and Research at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs does not consider the gas pipeline project and Russia’s interest towards the Baltic Sea to be a worrying development from the security policy perspective.
      “If such a critical piece of infrastructure is laid on the bottom of the sea, it is only natural that it will also be defended. That is all there is to it”, Haukkala says.
      “Russia’s interests in the Baltic Sea region are commercial and logistic, not military-political”, continues Haukkala.
      “Russia’s military-political interests lie elsewhere, and not in the north or the west.”


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Assessment: limited impact of gas pipeline on Baltic Sea (10.3.2009)
  Mines, wrecks, fishing areas and seal habitats along pipeline route (16.3.2009)
  Environmental assessment of proposed undersea gas pipeline to be assessed by adjacent countries (27.1.2009)
  Finland wants more information on risks of gas pipeline (9.6.2009)

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