Denmark and the United States have begun talks about a new bilateral defence agreement. The agreement might include American troops on Danish soil, as Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced at a news conference on 10 February 2022.
The term ‘non-strategic nuclear weapon’ (NSNW) includes nuclear warheads for all delivery systems such as gravity bombs for aircraft other than nuclear-capable heavy bombers, nuclear warheads for naval cruise missiles and torpedoes, and nuclear warheads for anti-ballistic missile (ABM) and air defence systems. The NSNWs term would also capture any nuclear warheads for surface-to-surface missiles with less-than-50 kilometres ranges, and nuclear artillery shells.
In recent months tensions between Russia and NATO have reached a critical point as Russia has mobilised more than one hundred thousand troops along Ukraine’s border. Russia wants to coerce NATO to meet its demands by mobilising these troops. One of these demands holds that NATO will not expand further and halt all new membership plans, including Ukraine. In addition, Russia wants NATO to reduce its military presence in countries close to Russia’s borders, essentially returning NATO forces to where they were stationed before 1997 (Roth, 2021). Moscow states they are not planning any invasion. However, they argue that if their security demands are not met, their next step might be a military one (Kirby, 2022). The U.S. government expects that a Russian incursion into Ukraine could lead to the deaths of roughly 50.000 civilians and cause a refugee crisis in Europe (Cooper and Sanger, 2022).
Recent developments in the three Baltic states point towards a large-scale effort to modernise their respective land forces. This modernisation drive encompasses purchasing new weapons systems and updating existing weaponry. Estonia, for instance, has allotted up to €40 million to acquire additional ground force vehicles, such as the Republic of Korea made K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzer, of which it expects the delivery of six by next year.
After last year’s denial of the formal membership to the North Atlantic Alliance’s (NATO) cooperative cyber centre of excellence (CCDOE), the Ukrainian government officials announced that they still want a closer collaboration.
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