Gas Pipeline a Military Threat to Sweden

From Dagens Nyheter (November 14, my tr.):

The Russian gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea involves an obvious security problem for Sweden. This is admitted by defence minister Mikael Odenberg.

The pipeline has environmental, energy and security policy implications, Mikael Odenberg tells DN.

The defence minister says that he himself could have signed an op-ed article in DN written by Ulrica Messing, social democratic leader of the Swedish parliamentary defence committee. Messing describes the gas pipeline - and the maintenance platform that is to be placed off the island of Gotska Sandön - as “very problematic for Sweden’s defence interests”.

“We’re getting a pipeline which motivates a Russian naval presence, a pipeline which if the Russians want can be used as platform for intelligence activity. It’s clear that this is a problem,” the defence minister admits.