MOSCOW – The Swedish Navy’s triumphant return to its Cold War-era fortressfits the country’s ongoing militarisation pattern, characterised by budgethikes and the return of the draft, coupled with panic-inducing rhetoric.
After 15 years of disuse, the Muskö naval base 70 kilometres south ofStockholm is once again part of Sweden’s armed forces, the newspaper *SvenskaDagbladet* reportedlink.
On Monday, a re-inauguration ceremony was held with the Navy’s music corpsand a parade, exactly 50 years after Muskö’s original inauguration in 1969,Sputnik reported.
Social Democrat Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist interpreted the Navy’sreturn to Musköbasen as an security policy signal.
“It is probably the world’s largest underground base. Here we have a veryimportant and unique resource that we can develop in different ways”,Hultqvist explained in his speech.
For starters, a 100-strong force will be placed at rejuvenated Muskö,which was decommissioned in 2004; its shipyard was sold to ThyssenKrupp.
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“The goal is that we should sit inside the mountain to increase safety. Themountain is an impressive facility that it feels wise to utilise,” Navycommander Jens Nykvis Nykvist said. “This is important, it is a big thingfor us. It is a great advantage not to be lumped together in the city,”Nykvist said, suggesting that the decentralisation plan “reducesvulnerability” and “enhances tactical possibilities”.
The plan was put together by parliament about a year ago. In addition tothe Navy moving to Muskö, the Army will be placed in Enköping, whereas theAir Force will be located in Uppsala in what was described as a “spread ofmanagement”.
Other specialists, however, were more specific as to why the undergroundfortress had to be revitalised.
“The move is based on the calculation that the Russians could use powerfulweapons which demand the level of protection that only Muskö can provide,”Niklas Granholm, a senior analyst at the Swedish Defence Research Agency,said, as quoted bylink *The Guardian*.
