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Norway, just below the Arctic Circle. The sound of helicopters disturbs the peace in the sleepy town of Narvik, in the north of the country. The town has just come under a massive drone attack. We have someone seriously injured. He's not breathing. In fact, this is an exercise to test emergency response capabilities in the event of invasion and war. We need help, he's seriously injured. Trying to get the base unstable, to get like free reading. The simulation is being observed by Norwegian Army generals who appear concerned.
The government has tasked them with preparing the population for a conflict. But not everything is fully ready. That's part of the Norwegian total defense concept, that the military and the civilian authorities and rescue services work together to solve emergencies in times of crisis and war. And that's important to start training directly. Follow, here. The training includes testing readiness of hospitals. Yes, I can. at the local clinic. the medical staff are overwhelmed by the number of casualties.
The capacity is too low, so you will go to another hospital. The Nordic countries face a race against time to prepare for the possibility of war with Russia. Norway and Finland both share land borders with Russia, whereas Sweden shares a maritime border. Norway is a founding member of NATO, alongside France and the United States. After the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, first Finland, then Sweden joined the organization, forming a bloc against Russia and its allies. Russia is intensifying its show of strength, just as it did in a recent military parade on Red Square.
A vast army, more powerful than ever, displayed for all the West to see. Russia is recruiting and training 30,000 soldiers every month. It manufactures military equipment including artillery, tanks, rocket launchers and has just commissioned a next-generation nuclear-tacked submarine. Vladimir Putin does not hesitate to raise the spectre of nuclear war. They must understand that by what they are doing, that is to say by trying to frighten the whole world, they are risking a nuclear conflict that could destroy civilisation.
Meanwhile, the three Nordic countries of Finland, Sweden and Norway are in the front line. Finland has closed its border and is preparing its reservists. Sweden is now recruiting new soldiers after 200 years of pacifism and neutrality. It's about time. We spent about 200 years being neutral, but now we're seeing that neutrality isn't quite doing it in these trying times. And massive NATO military exercises in Norway confirm its alliance with the United States.
But will this rearmament drive be enough to dissuade Russian aggression? A new cold war has begun in northern Europe between Russia and the Nordic countries. In Norwegian Lapland, close to the Russian border, it is minus 5 degrees today, in a region where temperatures can drop as low as minus 30. Alessio works as a dog sledder for a hotel taking guests for sleigh rides. But when he signed his contract to work the holiday season, he wasn't expecting to see Russian attempts at espionage.
The border is 10 km from here in that direction straight ahead. There are spy drones going by. It's not uncommon to see them. I've seen 5 or 6 since I arrived. Norway has invested several billion euros to step up its military presence in these frozen expanses. I'd say that there is tension on the Norwegian side. On some of our slopes, we have bunkers and sort of Norwegian guard posts. And they ask questions and ask to see your papers.
Norwegian soldiers patrol here every day. We were given exceptional permission to film them. Fransen and Norden are 21 years old and are doing their military service. They were among the best recruits in their intake and were selected to join a battalion of 800 men stationed on the border. It's an automatic rifle, an HK416. For example, if there's a. Border crossing and the person is armed on the other side.
They live under the constant threat of an incursion. We do have live rounds in the vest. We're far from everyone else. So if the alarm goes, you have to be ready. So there are some mags in the vest and some in the backpack. The patrol backpack can reach weights of. Up to 60 kilograms, so it gets quite heavy. They climb the surrounding mountains every day to check on any movements over the border. Over there we have a Norwegian border mark. Right now I'm looking at the border to see if I can spot anything, such as any tracks or something, or movement, crossing.
They are tasked. with preventing Russian intelligence from smuggling agents into Norway. It's actually a threat out there. It's not just a country you live in. If the day comes, you have to do something and you have to defend it. This is the border between Norway and Russia. On the Russian side, the port of Mamansk is home to the Northern Fleet and Russian nuclear submarines. but also Sputnik's military base home to the Russian Marine Corps. Defence Minister Andrei Belousov visited the base, which is being upgraded with new barracks, more warehouses for weapons and missiles, as shown in these images.
The Vardo base is on the Norwegian side. Norwegian intelligence services are monitoring Russia from here. Using these huge globus radars financed by the United States, Russian fighter planes have simulated attacks on these radars on several occasions. Kirkenes is the closest town in Norway to the Russian border. These tourists have not been put off by the diplomatic tensions. They are curious to have a closer look at a country at war. Good morning. The Australians are awake. Love you guys. Okay, Border Patrol is sitting there and looking at us, of course.
The Norwegian military keep a close eye on Russia in this area. This border post has taken on a new significance. Western visitors no longer venture into Russia. They still take photos in front of signs written in Cyrillic or use binoculars to see the other side. Gordon has come all the way from Australia. But he can't get past this gate. I will not easily be able to go there, and this is my opportunity to get to look at Russia. More than 300,000 visitors used this crossing in 2013.
There will be fewer than 60,000 in 2024. Border crossings are still open to local Norwegian residents, but Russians have not been able to obtain tourist visas for Norway since 2024. Much to the despair of Erjan Nielsen. This idiot had no ski boots and no skis. He opened his souvenir shop in 1989 at the end of the Cold War to take advantage of the boom in trade between the two countries. He hasn't seen any tourists for a year. This, for instance, Putin as a macho man. These are the best sellers? No, absolutely not.
We want Putin today. Nobody. The entire history of diplomatic relations is on display here in this little shop. Putin, Yeltsin, Gorbachev, Stalin and then Lenin. And then we have from West Russia. Mr Trump and his family. Nowadays it's not normal. Maybe I sell two a year nowadays. And before? Two a week. Norway is the only Nordic country to keep an active border crossing point.
Neighbouring Finland has chosen to close its border. Finland shares the longest border with Russia of any country in the European Union, at 1,340 kilometres. Border crossings are deserted, shops have closed, a huge fence with cameras and barbed wire is under construction. The border closure came after a massive influx of asylum seekers in autumn 2023. Refugees turned up en masse at border crossings and even came to blows with border guards.
Videos on social media showed that these migrants were deliberately brought to Finland by the Russian authorities in order to destabilise the country. It's a form of covert warfare, but the Finns are well prepared. Finland has perceived Russia as a threat for decades, and the country has been preparing for the worst. All towns have air raid shelters. There are 50,500 in the country. accommodating nearly 5 million people, or 85% of the population. That's a world record.
In the basement of this Helsinki building, no-one would guess that this magnificent swimming pool hides a highly sophisticated bunker. It's the largest in the country, capable of housing 3,800 people. Even the swimmers seem to be completely oblivious. I didn't know either, so it feels safer. Feels good to have some kind of backup. Temu is the caretaker of this building and knows all of its secrets. Four megaton bomb don't work.
The shelter is 12 metres underground. It has been designed to be completely airtight. Here we have two kind of doors. We have first the gas doors and then the main doors are for air raid. But you see the thickness of the doors is quite big. Most of the people in Europe, they don't have air raid shelters at all. There are 5,500 shelters in Helsinki alone. The construction of bunkers is a principle enshrined in law, including in the private sector. So when a prestigious firm of architects built this four-star hotel last year, the brief for the designers didn't just include the entrance hall, bar and patio.
They also had to include a bunker in the basement. Hello, let's go to the civil defence shelter. Aman, hello. Ira Pasi works for the Ministry of the Interior. She has come to check that the shelter is operational. Let's go down to the floor where the shelter is. We go down to the basement to find the shelter. It is much less glamorous than upstairs.
Right, so this is the entrance, and each shelter is signposted from the outside. There are signs along the way, and everyone knows how to get around the shelter. It's being used as a storage area. If the shelter is activated, the first thing you'll have to do is remove all this. Let's see what we have here. There you have helmets, gas masks for breathing, tablets for purifying water, gloves. You can see this list, and we also have the same lists at each site showing what items are available.
There they are! If there is radioactivity, for example in the event of an attack on a nuclear power station, you can take iodine tablets. This protects the thyroid from radiation. Everyone should have some at home just in case. Do you have any? No, we don't have any. You don't have any! But everyone should have some at home! These tablets can be bought in many pharmacies across Europe.
60 people could withstand a siege in this bunker in total self-sufficiency for more than a month. This is a toilet. you can close it with a lid, and you put a bag inside, you add a product to remove odours. This stack of white plastic tubs can be used to store water. The shelter is also equipped with independent ventilation, which has to be operated manually in the event of a power cut. You won't need to go to the gym if you do this! And in the event of a total collapse of the building, this door provides access to a tunnel and a ladder to the surface.
200 kilometres of these tunnels have been dug under the city of Helsinki. The Finns have good reason to be well prepared, because their Russian neighbour invaded them in the past. This was in 1939, in the Winter War. After heroic resistance, Finland was forced to cede 11% of its territory to the USSR. It made a commitment to stay as a neutral country.
The Finns remember this history all too well, and have no intention of being intimidated by their Russian neighbours. Reserve forces. have returned to training throughout the country. There are 900,000 of them, 16% of the population, all heavily armed. We are north of Helsinki, in Kerava. We've set up four targets at the back, so we're going to start with some quick and easy warm-up exercises. The people here for training today are ordinary civilians. Shooter ready? Stand by! These civilians are fathers with families, IT specialists, bricklayers and firefighters.
The war in Ukraine pushed Finland into rearmament. A lot of people started back in 2022. I think most of the guys here shooting today, me especially, started at the time that Russia attacked Ukraine. Reservists practised their marksmanship. I think shooting is pretty much one of the most important skills that a soldier would have. Every Finnish military conscript, after they get their service done, they're moved into the reserves. In the event of war,
Finland would be crushed without its reservists. as the country only has 24,000 professional soldiers, whereas, for example, France has 200,000. Everyone here already knows what role they would play. Olli is a computer scientist at the airport. My deployment will be at my work, so I have to go to the airport anyway, so I will be doing civil stuff. I'm not a soldier. Tatu is 52 years old. In civilian life, he's a firefighter. Six, three, twenty. And I have to choose because I'm working at the fire department or I have to go to war.
I, of course, go to war. And I believe that most of the Finnish males, people think the same. Is it important to defend the country? Yes. Our grandfathers did that. And if we need to, we do that the same. Finland would not exist if we are not doing the same that our grandparents did. Finns have not forgotten the invasion of their country by Russia in 1939.
Finland's defence makes it so that it's going to be extremely expensive. for Russia to attack. War is always scary, but being brave is not about being not scared. It's about being scared and still doing stuff. After the invasion of Ukraine, Finland ended its neutrality by joining NATO, and its neighbour Sweden followed suit a few months later. As a result, its pacifist, anti-militarist tradition has been shattered. It is a cultural revolution. The Swedish population are now also. So being asked to prepare for battle. This is the Gutenberg region at Uddevalla.
Matthias often takes his family swimming at the lake at the weekend. It's healthy. It's refreshing. It's hot today. It's eight degrees. The last time I was there it was probably five degrees and before that it was three. My feet are a bit cold. It's nice to be in the towel. You want to get back in the water, don't you? No. - Josef's going! Camilla is a physiotherapist and Mattias works in an educational centre.
The couple have chosen to live in the countryside with their children, Joseph and Walter. Becoming more self-sufficient has become a point of pride for them. A local and ecological meal. They are cooking wild boar, which Mattias brought back from a hunting trip, because, like five million other Swedish households, they received this brochure entitled, In the event of crisis or war. If we are attacked, everyone will have to help defend Sweden's independence and democracy. In this brochure, you'll find out how to prepare.
Following the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Sweden has decided to relaunch its civil defence programme. The biggest and most important part of civil defence is that we have to be able to look after ourselves. They say that you need to be able to survive for at least a week without anyone's help. This is our little storeroom. We store our dry goods in here. BIC 650g rice, tinned food, enough to last a month.
And in the event of a power cut. Tealights to keep things warm when you need them. A small oil lamp. And we've also included a stove. It's powered by a simple gas cylinder so you can cook basic food, reheat food and cook rice. Mattias has used his hunting licence to fill his freezer with meat. It varies, but every time we kill a wild boar or deer, we add around 10, 20 or 30 kilos of meat to our stores, depending on the size of the animal.
The family always keeps 40 litres of fresh water in cans. And in the event of a blackout, this brand-new generator will provide them with power. It cost Mattias 2,000 euros to buy it. Come on, it's a bit further down this way. This cellar at the bottom of the garden could also serve as a shelter. Theoretically, you could also take shelter here to avoid shrapnel or other dangers in the event of a rocket attack or similar.
is always in the background, permeating the family's daily life. Can you give me the radio? -Here! Thank you. It's a radio that works with a hand crank to recharge the internal battery. The brochure clearly states that this is something everyone should have at home. In the event of an attack, public radio would broadcast essential information. We have talked to the children that we have food and drink. One thing that we've been taught: if radio messages asking us to lay down our arms and surrender are broadcast, they're false.
This type of message will never be communicated officially. It's something that's been repeated since the Second World War. At just 11 years of age, Walter has also made a few preparations. I've got a bit of food because tinned food won't always be enough. A cup for drinking water. A multi-tool. A first aid kit. And a knife. If it were to happen, we're pretty well equipped. Preparing for the worst is the norm these days, especially in the countryside. The French authorities are preparing to send a similar manual to all citizens.
We haven't seen mobilisation like this since the end of the Cold War. The annexation of Crimea and Russia's invasion of Ukraine put an end to the peaceful status quo in Europe. Dreams of reconstituting the Russian Empire. Truth and justice are on our side Russia's spending on defence has risen up to 40% Of is budget. In 2025, as it aims to regain its power, Russian troops are stepping up their shows of force and military exercises. The Nordic countries fear an invasion from the north more than ever. They are preparing. by conducting major military manoeuvres in Norway with their allies, such as this exercise between the towns of Tromso and Badafus.
Every year, this region beyond the Arctic Circle hosts NATO's largest military exercise. 10,000 soldiers are mobilised over 15 days. The exercise is in preparation for repelling a Russian invasion from the north of the country. I'm Lars Lerwick, Chief of the Norwegian Army and also the Chief of the Norwegian Division for this exercise.faring to advance northwards again to regain the lost territories.
Last night we executed. We were given exceptional permission to film inside this Norwegian unit. This is the Northern Brigade, 4,500 soldiers who are specially trained for war in the Arctic. Is the entrance here? Bjorn Andreassen commands a battalion of 1,000 soldiers. Hello. They have been advancing up the mountain for over a week to surprise the enemy. And I just got the new orders to proceed and continue the fight towards Badefoss. It's not a game. When we are on exercises, we try to, as I said, do it as realistic as possible so that we know that we actually are capable to do this thing if it is a live situation.
The briefing is given on an old-fashioned map because we are here filming. We are not allowed to film the electronic devices used by the army to plan its operations. It's classified information. The officers' tent is heated, but not the soldiers'tent They settle down to spend the night in the snow, in temperatures that can drop to minus 30 degrees. Frida is 21 and doing her military service. She joined the brigade a year ago. Right now we're going to pick up the tent so we can rest. And right now we are putting bushes to get a distance between it so we're not as easily seeing the heat signature.
Frida knows that drones can detect the faintest heat signature, even in a tent. She has been on this exercise for three days. Just walked for ten hours. But we didn't have that much clothing with us. We had only one wool sweater. So it was freezing and we had one meal. So it was tough. Norway was the first European country to make military service compulsory for women. Only 15% of eligible young people are selected, around 9,000 each year.
The country plans to double those figures. One road crosses this area in the distance, and residents are returning from work amid the fighting. Hello, You are about to enter a military zone. On the road you can meet tanks which are driving with normal driving lights and look like normal cars when they're driving against you.
I know about these exercises once a year. Are you afraid that it could happen for real? Yes, of course, these days. Yeah, really. I think we talk about it every day. I hope that will not be the case, but of course I would like us to be ready, yes. The cold is biting, and it's only the beginning of the night. No rest for Frida. It's her turn to take guard duty.
You're not supposed to use light at all. It's very visible for the enemy so please don't use the lights Right now I am listening hard. Okay say that Here comes enemies that is following our tracks and then I can alert them. Frida finishes her military service in a fortnight. I think Ukraine is part of Europe. It's pretty close to home. I can't. Imagine how hard it must be when it is 100% for real. Because I know that in under a week I'll be home in my bed. But when you're out here like this for months, it's something else.
She can rest now, but only for a few hours. At the rear, her commander Bjorn Andreassen finalizes the final details of the operation. Otherwise, we've got to deal with light units on scooters where we don't have complete control. But we're working on it. The offensive is launched in the early hours. The troops set off to attack the last entrenched enemy positions at the edge of the wood.
Thomas, like Frida, will complete his military service in two months' time. This is my beautiful weapon. She's named after my first girlfriend. My first real girlfriend, Maja. So it's a hate and love relationship. A bit of humour lightens the heavy load that sits on the shoulders of these young Norwegians. They've only just left school and know that they face the possibility of war.
It's pretty hard. You have to get yelled at every day for not being the best. And when you try to be the best, you still get yelled at. And it's fucking heavy. I'm gonna be 21 in September. Hopefully, if it doesn't break out a war. I mean, if it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen. And if I die, I just die. For the country and my fellow men. Are you ready for the war? I mean, how can you be ready for a war? I know everything I need to know. I train every day. So hopefully I'm ready.
I'm better than the Russians. Their opponents have taken higher ground, 200 metres above them. Message received, return to your positions. Over. The enemy trench was soon surrounded, the red flag goes up and the fight is over. These military maneuvers are being followed more closely than ever by the whole country. Because the Norwegian princess is taking part.
She is doing her military service too. At the age of 21, the future Queen of Norway, Ingrid Alexandra, has swapped a formal dress and a tiara for a military uniform. The cameras are here because her father, Crown Prince Harkon, is visiting. It is a successful communications operation for Vice Admiral Andersen. It's already very popular to do service in the armed forces, but the fact that the Royal Family is behind it, it tells the story that the whole society is behind it, support to the military.
I have my own daughter as a conscript on board one of our ships, a frigate. A few months after our shoot, Princess Ingrid Alexandra finished her military service. When you're here, a lot of different people come together, and you learn to cooperate. And I've learnt a lot about myself too. Of course I'm proud of Ingrid. And she appears in military uniform on the palace balcony. Norway now plays a front-line role in facing threats from Russia.
We return to the major military exercise underway in Norway. It's an opportunity for the country to welcome its allies, Finland, Sweden, Germany, France, and above all, the United States. Zak is a lieutenant colonel in the Marines. I mean, America's commitment to NATO is strong, and we've said that, and our leadership has said that the whole time. So, yeah, this is just a continuation of that. Every year soldiers from the famous American elite corps train alongside the Norwegian army. Army fighting in the extreme cold is a speciality of the Nordic armies, but not for the Americans
We have a large number of Marines who have never been in the snow in their life before and end up having them on skis is a very large but rapid learning curve. This is the most iconic training exercise and the one everyone dreads. The American soldiers will throw themselves and all their equipment into this icy water hole. So first thing you need to do is get your breathing, alright? When you jump in, watch out for ice. Don't let it hit you in the face and get you a bloody nose. Their full uniform weighs 3 kilos and their bag up to 40 kilos.
If one of them falls through the ice in a combat situation, they must be able to get out on their own. Push, push Pull, I can't do it. Beautiful. Take off the belt. Go run. Running is a vital survival technique. Norway has strengthened its partnership with the United States, giving them access to 12 of its military zones.
The same agreement applies to Sweden and Finland. The US Army stores equipment there. In the event of an attack, all it has to do is parachute in and deploy its men on the ground. For Russia, the Nordic countries have gone from being seen as peaceable neighbours to being designated enemies. As a result, all the countries face Russian espionage. Particularly in military zones.
We are back in the north of Norway, in the Bader Foss region. Simon Grinstad-Ørknes works for Norway's leading private television channel TV2. The journalist uncovered an espionage attempt that caused a scandal in the country. The cabins are all the way on the top of the ski station. We were mapping out. All the Russian ownership of real estate in the northern areas of Norway and especially focusing on locations that were nearby, sensitive military infrastructure. And then this place showed up.
Seaman guides us to the Malselv Ski Resort. Downhill skiing, cross-country skiing. It has all the makings of a peaceful family destination. There are numerous chalets here to accommodate holidaymakers. Some with uninterrupted views of the military airbase. Now we're getting close. Here are the cabins, these two. Two imposing houses bought in 2010, back when Norway wasn't worried about Russian interference within its borders. So, yeah. So you can see the flight tower and the airstripe.
Down there is Valdefoss military flight station, which is a key infrastructure for the Norwegian army as well as NATO forces. But the people who bought the chalets with this view are not just tourists. Both owners are very close to the Russian government. Igor Marat is the former mayor of Murmansk. the town where Russia's nuclear submarines are stationed. And then if we follow the cable over to this cabin, that was owned by Viktor Segin. Viktor Segin is also a Mamansk politician, a member of President Putin's party and very close to the military authorities.
Viktor Segin, according to a former employee here, bought the premises here with. the bank terminal from the ski cafe so he paid hundreds of thousands of norwegian kroners with the credit card and then the location was theirs it's a reminder that for years the nordic countries let their guard down with russia seaman also revealed that in 2024 the norwegian and swedish armies rented these chalets to house their officers during the nato military exercise Security experts on Russia says that there's no way that you buy a cabin here with this kind of view without having also in mind that these can be useful in times of crisis or war.
This is not the only scandal to have robbed the region. A number of Russians have been arrested for taking photos of local infrastructure. We were also stopped on several occasions for checks. Yeah, so it's totally OK to film everything around. Just towards the military base is not OK. We're not supposed to publish that. We have to be cautious, you know, because there's a lot of intelligence people trying to film.
You know how it is, right? OK. The police here are on edge and their paranoia is justified. A Russian agent was discovered a few kilometres away. José Assis Giammeria seemed to all the world to be a Brazilian academic, and so his colleagues thought, until he was arrested by the Norwegian Police Security Service. They sent us the video of his arrest, filmed by a drone. The academic's real name was Mikael Mikushin. He is an intelligence colonel who built his legend by spending several years at Canadian universities.
The video shows two Norwegian police officers handcuffing the man. In 2024, he and eight other Russian spies were exchanged for 15 Western prisoners held in Russia. We met Johan Roldnäs, head of the Norwegian Police Security Service in northern Norway.
For the fake Brazilian academic, did the police manage to find that he was a to have lexus patients? Because he was undercover. And that's a proper secret, so I can't tell you anything about that. He is well versed in the various FSB espionage tactics. We have almost every day some reports of possible illegal photographing of military areas. The travelling agents, that's part of the old KGB tactic of, it's called Mershutnik. If you picture you're in a Russian military base with a.
New set of satellite photos. All you see is squares and blocks. So it's not useful just to see things from above. You have to get people to do a visible confirmation or take another photo at ground level. Johan is based in Kirkenes, close to the Russian border. They also face a threat from the sea here. You can see the gate is open. Norway has maintained its fishing agreement with Russia. Three northern ports are still open to Russian fishing boats.
Now we're in the port, closing up on the two Russian vessels. They're here. Now you're seeing offloading and loading of some supplies. And there's a complete ban on any kind of technical assistance. So they are strictly limited to crew change, basic supplies. and fishery equipment and offloading fish. But according to Russian military doctrine, civilian ships can also be used for military purposes if necessary. The intelligence threat from civilian fishing vessels, that's always been used by all countries to spy on each other.
I think there were all Russian crews on both these vessels. Do you check if there is any signs of intelligence services on it? It's hard to say. To some extent, ordinary fishing equipment, sonars and that kind, could be used to build a picture. Militarily they can communicate about military activity in Norwegian waters or just figuring out how deep a dock is. Is it suitable for a warship? On the day we were filming, other boats were cruising offshore. They were forbidden from entering Norwegian waters.
We were able to locate them at sea using this app on our phone. There, you can see boats. This one, for example, with a Barbados flag, could easily be from the phantom fleet. The Phantom Fleet, which is made up of more than 600 ships, allows Russia to circumvent sanctions on its oil exports and finance its war economy. They sail under flags of convenience to hide their real connection. Barbados, the Cayman Islands and Liberia. This is a boat with a Liberian flag, but it is headed for Murmansk.
There are tankers circulating here, but also further south in the Baltic Sea, where Russia has a coastline. There, the ships of the Shadow Fleet take on supplies at these terminals. before sailing just off the coast of Finland. In the capital Helsinki, the border guards set sail every day. Commander Ilja Iljan's job is to keep an eye on these boats as they sail along the maritime border. Every day we notice about a dozen or maybe a little more of these Shadow Fleet vessels, so the Russian tankers going east and westbound. in the Gulf of Finland.
He might be owned by one party and operated by another party, insured by a third party. Also, they might be flagged to one state for this load, and then they might be flagged to another state for another load. They might change their names and their flags very frequently. So it's. It's really hard for us authorities to keep on track of this. The border guards have set up surveillance stations all along the shoreline. For the last two years, they have had to deal with underwater sabotage attacks.
The seabed is littered with telecommunication cables linking European countries. At least seven of them have been cut just over the past two years. Each time. and boats linked to Russian trade are suspected of having cut the cables. The new polar bear, the Yipeng-3, the Eagle S or the Weizen?
So some of these vessels have been tracking their anchor and damaging underwater cables and pipelines. Instances are currently under the investigation of the proper authorities in Finland, so I cannot comment on them more particularly. I prefer you not to take pictures of the screens just for tactical reasons. We don't want to show all the equipment that we have here. These instruments are essential as the tankers in the Phantom fleet try to evade detection passing under the radar. Many of these ships, especially when they approach the Russian waters, they switch off their
AIS devices so that they become invisible on these systems. There have been multiple sabotage attacks near the island of Gotland in Sweden, situated in the middle of the Baltic, surrounded by NATO countries and their bases, and directly opposite the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. Here, the Russian fleet numbers 69 vessels and around 20 combat aircraft. Gotland is within range of Russian missiles. Nicknamed the Pearl of the Baltic, Sweden's largest island is best known for its beaches.
Visby, the capital, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, known for its medieval town and bucolic charm. But since Sweden joined NATO, everything has changed. One year after its succession, Gotland hosted the biggest military exercise Sweden has seen in 20 years. 25 years, 26,000 soldiers from 14 countries, exercises in the air, on land and at sea. This is all happening just opposite this charming house where Maud and Hans Soderbergh raised their three children.
We have been living here since 1972. And we want to leave the city, be coming to the nature. The real reason why we moved here was the green wave. This is Maud, always in the leading position, and me backwards. They are pacifists, but now they live alongside regular military exercises. Did you hear the impact when we came out? - No. Yes, that's right. There was an explosion on the Tofta side. Almost every day you have the plane in the area and you hear them. That's awful. And sometimes we have had NATO ships in the water outside here.
making the island as a front line against Russia. That's impossible. They can just shoot from Kaliningrad. Doesn't matter if we have 300, 400 soldiers here. It's nothing to come with. The future war must not come. The couple are all the more worried because the soldiers have taken over the pine forest right next to their home. So we have this place for ourselves, but beyond the cliff you find the military today. They have occupied nice areas for their shootings.
Local people used to swim at this beach. But it has become a military base where exercises are conducted on an almost daily basis. The island was demilitarised in 2005. But when Russia annexed Crimea, Sweden changed its military strategy. In 2016, 150 soldiers settled on Gotland. There are now 400 of them.
It's about time. We spent about 200 years being neutral, but now we're seeing that neutrality isn't quite doing it in these trying times. We have to stick together to create a stronger defense and solidarity in Europe. Colonel Dan Rasmussen commands this regiment. If you possess Scotland, if you can put soldiers, if you can put systems and sensors on this island, you can dominate more or less the air and the sea around the island,
which goes from the Swedish mainland to the Baltic states. Sweden plans to increase the number of military personnel on the island by a factor of 10 by 2027 to prepare for the arrival of its future soldiers. the colonel has taken on the responsibilities of a construction site manager. We need, as we see behind me now here, a dining hall for the officers and for the conscripts. We also need barracks. We need storage facilities. We need garage for the tanks and for the CV-90s. So a couple of years ago we started out with 40.
Conscripts, and this year we will have 300 conscripts here on the island. The soldiers were training that night, an exercise to repel a landing. Sweden reintroduced compulsory military service in 2017. The European Union estimates that it needs 300,000 additional soldiers. It has given itself just five years to re-militarize.
