A Swedish Armed Forces officer reported that Russian bombers practiced bombing runs to Sweden, Baltics states and Poland last week.
The latest episode occurred on the morning of Oct. 28, when three escort planes and two Russian bombers flew toward Swedish territory. The “package” was detected on the radar over the Gulf of Finland and for one hour they seemingly carried out attack runs against Poland, the Baltics – and the southern tip of Öland in Sweden.
“I think the purpose was to practice various types of attacks as well as highlight the Russian presence in the southern Baltic,” Anders Persson, acting flight tactical commander on the Swedish Armed Forces said in an interview with SVT.se.
“We are now seeing an increased activity of Russian strategic bombers in the area. Of course we have to follow developments and see where they’re going and what they are doing,” Persson said.
Two Gripen fighter jet were scrambled to keep a close eye on the Russian planes.
Even though Sweden is used to such activity in the Baltic Sea area, the aggressive posture of the Russians makes the drills a bit annoying for the Swedish.
“The difference is that when we practice, we do it together with a nation, we do not practice on any target in any country without the country being involved in the exercise. The Russian behavior is far more aggressive in their exercises,” Anders Persson, said.
. Sweden is not (yet) part of the NATO , but I'm sure they practice various defensive and offensive scenarios against Russia , alone and with other countries . Nothing new under the sun and I think that there is no real threat of conflict , although some Western countries miss good old 1990's when Russia was weak and powerless .
