Year: 2017

Sweden will invest 8.1 billion crowns (854 million euros) more in its armed forces over the next three years, against a backdrop of growing tension with Russia in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish government, led by the centre-left minority, said Wednesday. The annual increase of 2.7 billion crowns in military spending follows an agreement between the ruling Social Democratic coalition and the Green Party with the centre-right opposition parties.

“We are seeing an increase in military and intelligence activity in our region,”Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said at a press conference. “This (extra money)… sends an important message to the world around us and is good for Sweden.

Russia sends a new military contingent to northwest Syria to help create a safe zone near Tal Rafaat. The head of the Russian Federation’s main operational department of the General Staff, Sergei Rudskoy, announced on Wednesday the establishment of a de-escalation zone near the Syrian city of Tal Rafaat (about 38 kilometres north of Aleppo). The Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria will participate in the process, the Russian news agency Sputnik publishes.

In order to avoid provocations and possible clashes in northern Syria between the factions of the Syrian Free Army (ELS) and the Kurdish militia (…) a de-escalation zone has been established in Tal Rafaat,”the military leader said in announcing the deployment of Russian forces in the area. At the same time, Rudskoy has said that “the Syrian government troops have replaced the Kurdish armed groups (supported by the US) that left this area.