Sweden sends first military battalion to Latvia under NATO command

Sweden has sent a 550-member battalion to Latvia as part of NATO’s forward ground forces, marking the kingdom’s first military mission since joining the alliance.

The deployment is stationed at the Camp Valdemar military base, with Sweden now being the 14th NATO member country to contribute to this strategic force.

This decision is significant as NATO's advanced ground forces are positioned in all alliance countries bordering Russia, and Latvia has hosted these forces since 2004, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

The transfer of the Swedish battalion was conducted secretly by sea, with 250 of the servicemen arriving via ferry along with tanks and combat vehicles. 

Sweden’s last military involvement in Europe was in the 1990s when it participated in peacekeeping operations in Kosovo. The country also contributed to missions in Mali and Afghanistan, where their role focused on peacebuilding. However, the current deployment to Latvia takes on a different mission: “In those operations, our task was to establish peace, this time we are going to a country where there is peace, with the task of preventing war. We are here to deter,” stated Markus Nilsson, responsible for communications for the South Skåne Regiment P7.

By Tamilla Hasanova