The invasion of Ukraine changed everything for Russia’s Scandinavian neighbors. 200 years of neutrality, which had previously created a sense of stability, was replaced with NATO membership. Finland, Norway and Sweden are now preparing for the possibility of war. Their citizens have been asked to stock up on water, tinned food and iodine tablets.
All three countries share land borders with Russia. Stockholm is only 500 kilometres from the military base at Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania. This proximity makes them fear an attack from the Russian giant, as they control highly strategic zones: the Baltic Sea and the Arctic. These countries, historically hostile to excessive militarisation, have in the space of a few months become Europe’s bridgehead against Russian imperialism.
Sweden, Finland and Norway have decided to create a common military corridor crossing their territories in the Arctic, a strategic region likely to harbor 13% of the world’s oil reserves and 30% of its undiscovered natural gas – a region that is now increasingly accessible thanks to the accelerating melting of the ice, which is also opening up new shipping lanes.
For Norway in particular, this represents a paradigm shift. Before the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the mayors of the country’s north had created strong links between their municipalities and Russia, which wanted to open up a route to the Arctic.