East-West Tension Puts Baltic Sea Island On Its Toes
▻http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-tensions-put-swedish-baltic-island-on-alert/27038119.html
VISBY, Sweden — Smearing themselves with face paint, the camouflage-clad men and women in the forest look like the professional soldiers now populating Europe’s armed forces, some of them seasoned by deployments in conflict-torn countries far from Sweden. But they’re home-guard volunteers — part-time soldiers training to defend the Baltic Sea island of Gotland.
With Russia interfering in Ukraine and challenging Europe with close approaches by fighter jets, warships, and submarines, the island 80 kilometers from the Swedish mainland has become a strategic location that is increasingly in the focus of defense planners. And a growing number of Gotlanders are joining the home guard: 56 last year, double the number in 2013.