U.S. Marines Landed On Gotland With The HIMARS Missile System
- 27.05.2025, 12:18
The U.S. is increasing its military presence in Northern Europe.
Russia is building military bases near the borders of Finland and the Baltic states, and it is in this region, where Vladimir Putin could escalate militarily with Western countries, that NATO is actively strengthening its defenses. And at the center of these efforts is the U.S. military, despite mixed statements from the Donald Trump administration that have led European countries to question the U.S. commitment to preserving and strengthening NATO.
Washington wants to make the alliance more "lethal" by strengthening its northeastern frontiers, writes The Wall Street Journal. The Far North and the Baltic states are at the center of U.S. military planning, as their access to sea routes, territories and energy reserves will be crucial for the West in a new era of geopolitical conflict. The purpose of the U.S. military buildup and the exercise is twofold - to deter Russian aggression and to more firmly integrate allies in this strategic corner of Europe, including new NATO members Finland and Sweden.
The countries of the region are the toughest on Russia, spurring European efforts to rearm and increase defense spending. In turn, the U.S. military says it is ready to step up efforts to counter Russia in the region. "My orders as commander of the U.S. Army have not changed," Brig. Gen. Andrew Saslav, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Army operations in Europe and Africa, told the WSJ. While the question of future U.S. participation in NATO "is not off the top of my head," he added, "I've been doing this too long to be distracted by political winds and messages that are not orders."
Russia plans to turn its reconstituted Leningrad Military District, to be reconstituted in 2024, into a base to counter NATO. Military bases, warehouses for weapons and equipment, and an army headquarters to manage tens of thousands of troops are being built near the borders with Finland and the Baltic states. According to Western military and intelligence sources, many of whom are scheduled to be transferred there after the full-scale war in Ukraine ends, small brigades will almost triple in size and become divisions of 10,000 men each. New rail lines are being laid along the borders with Finland and Norway, as well as south of St. Petersburg to the Estonian border, and existing ones are being expanded.
"If you ask how soon the Russian military can conduct a limited operation against the Baltic states, the answer might be: very soon," says Michael Kofman of the Carnegie Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies in Berlin.
One of the most strategically important places in Northern Europe is the Swedish island of Gotland in the center of the Baltic Sea, where intelligence equipment and long-range weapons can be placed to dominate air and sea operations. Putin has "both eyes" on Gotland, former Swedish defense chief Mikael Büden warned last year. Because of its key military-strategic position, the island is likely to become a battleground in the initial phase of the conflict, said Stephan Lundqvist, chairman of the Swedish branch of the Alaska-based Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies, "Since Russia's strategic position in the Baltic Sea is very weak, in any conflict it will immediately try to occupy key port areas in the Baltic States, Finland and Poland."
In a recent exercise, U.S. Marines landed on Gotland with the HIMARS missile system - hours after firing it in Norway. After firing it on the island, they were quickly transferred to Finland.