{UAH} AMERICAN JETS CONTINUALLY VIOLET SWEDISH AIRSPACE

Military & Intelligence

According to the Swedish Ministry of Defence, for the last five years the country’s air boundaries have been violated by US aircraft several times. Political analyst Ivan Konovalov believes that some in the nation's leadership see the current situation as dangerous.

Declassified data from the Ministry of Defence of Sweden says that from 2011 till 2015, its airspace has been violated 42 times, mostly by US aircraft — both military and civilian.

Reports claim that the Russian Air Force as well as the German Air Force flew into Sweden's airspace unwittingly six times each over the same period, while Norway (5), and Monaco (3). Planes from Poland, Qatar, Albania, Bahrain, Denmark, Estonia, France, Portugal and Turkey have also been been listed as intruders. However, Sweden acknowledged that it sometimes violates others' air boundaries as well.

Ivan Konovalov, the deputy director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, says that this information has caused a sensation.

"The official procedure is very simple," Konovalov told Radio Sputnik.

"A country always needs a request to cross airspace, particularly if we are talking about military aircraft and those of NATO member countries as well. Sweden is not a member of the alliance. Therefore, it is natural that any time an American aircraft appears in its airspace without warning is a cause for scandal. And it is not about intention, but impunity," the deputy director said.

"The Swedes are looking for a scandal and it is certainly a scandalous moment for them. And the sensation is not that Americans have flown by, everyone knew about it before, but the fact that the authorities have declared about it," Konovalov claimed.

The Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces Micael Byden, commenting on the declassified data, stressed that Stockholm still would not consider US aircraft as a major threat to the country. According to Byden, it is Russia that uses "very dangerous" tactics in the Baltic region.

"The armed forces of Sweden have experienced reductions, budget funding has been cut and they also received no new weapons," Byden said. "And against the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis, the Swedish military, like many of their European counterparts and began to lobby for increased a military budget and the size of the army. And they succeeded; the Swedish army received more than 10 billion crowns. This is a big amount of money. The same is happening now."

EM

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