The common perception of Sweden is that it has since been neutral, but this is inaccurate. It joined the alliance against Napoleon in order to pry Norway from the pro-Napoleonic Denmark. For Sweden, the peace meant a drastic shortening of its vulnerable land border with Russia.ġ814 was the last time Sweden was openly at war with another country. Sweden had tried to control the sea its trade routes, while Russia aimed to expand its window to the West, having been previously relegated to just a small strip of land near St. This marked the end of several hundred years of wars between Sweden and Russia for hegemony over the Baltic Sea. The two countries are closely linked - Finland constituted the eastern half of Sweden until 1809, when Sweden ceded Finland to Russia with the Treaty of Fredrikshamn. To understand the context of these choices, it is necessary to look back into history to get an appreciation for the events, values, and geopolitics that still form basis of Swedish and Finnish security policy. The two Nordic countries are now doing whatever they can to improve their security and their relations with NATO short of actually applying for membership.
The 2008 war in Georgia and Russia’s more recent invasion of Ukraine have changed this dynamic. Sweden, Finland, and Russia have, however, just used PfP as a vehicle for cooperation. However, as James Goldgeier touched in yesterday at War on the Rocks, most of the countries that joined, arguably used PfP as a route toward future NATO membership. The objective of PfP was to offer countries a way to develop their individual relations to NATO. In the middle of the 1990s, Sweden and Finland joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) together with Russia and several other countries who are now NATO members. As the region around the Baltic Sea has become a focal point of geopolitical conflict, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and Finnish president Sauli Niinistö will continue walking a fine line of deepening cooperation with NATO without overly aggravating Moscow. This would have been impossible 20 years ago, but much has happened since. When the Warsaw summit started last week, the heads of NATO’s 28 member states were joined by their colleagues from two of the alliance’s closest partner countries, Sweden and Finland. “Posterity, stand here upon your ground and never rely on outside help”Īugustin Ehrensvärd (1710-1772), Builder of Sveaborg/Suomenlinna fortress guarding the inlet to Helsinki