Ten members of the British-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) will increase their military presence in the Baltic Sea. They want to protect submarine infrastructure.
Apart from the UK, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden are part of the military coalition. The defense ministers of the JEF countries on Tuesday decided to activate the defense clause – for the first time since the coalition’s existence – to deploy more resources in the Baltic Sea.
“This includes maritime and air capabilities, which will be deployed across the JEF core area as a military contribution to the protection of critical submarine infrastructure,” said a joint ministerial statement distributed by the British government. “This will happen in early December and will guarantee a security presence, which will strengthen our joint efforts with NATO in the Baltic Sea region.”
Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson said on public broadcaster SVT that around twenty warships would be deployed in the Baltic Sea and North Atlantic Ocean. “We need to be able to conduct these kinds of operations to defend our critical infrastructure, but also to send a signal to Russia.”
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