SWEDISH STATE SECRETARY JAN SALESTRAND: Thank you very much, and let me also say welcome to all the press representatives here. I will also start with -- – this (inaudible) to say thank you to my U.S., my Nordic and my Baltic -- colleagues here for being here, and for having very productive discussions during the day.
This meeting is co-hosted by Sweden and the U.S., and has really shown that we face common challenges. Of course, we have discussed a lot about the vicinity here --, but also we have discussed challenges in other regions such as the -- Daesh/ISIL, for instance.
And we have the same conclusion. It is of utmost importance that we face these challenges together.
Today's discussion also showed that the regional peace and stability in the northern world -- linked to the -- Trans-Atlantic Cooperation and Unity. And this group of countries share the same view regarding how we look upon the situation in the Baltic Sea and how look upon when Russia sometimes behaves in a way that is not according to standard and we see that we need to have enhanced security exercises together, and enhanced information exchange.
I also want to reiterate our sincere appreciation for U.S. engagement in our region. We have a common strategic interest in U.S. presence -- in the Trans-Atlantic link, and we have discussed also the upcoming U.S.-European Reassurance Initiative, which provides -- important -- opportunities to increase cooperation and -- for example -- exercises.
And with this -- these short words -- I will hand over the floor to Secretary Work.
DEPUTY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT WORK: Thank you.
Well, good afternoon, everybody. I'd really like to start by thanking State Secretary Salestrand and the government of Sweden for hosting this discussion. This is the second time we've met – –Oystein Bo [State Secretary of State for the Minister of Defense] from Norway, hosted the first one. And we had everyone there except for our Baltic friends, who joined us this time. So we have eight countries here today representing all the Nordic states and the Baltic states, representing the high north. It's just been a great time.
I'd like to thank all my colleagues for taking time out of their schedules, and also Ambassador Raji. She spent the entire day with us, and so this was really a substantive and very productive day.
As Jan said, we talked about the Nordic and Baltic perspectives, the activities that are going on here; some of the activities that Russia is doing, as well as other security challenges we face as an alliance and as partners.
We talked about regional cooperation. We talked about what NORDEFCO is doing. We talked about the northern flag exercise that Sweden started, which we think is very exciting – and hopefully expands. We talked about Baltic operations and air policing. So there's a lot of regional cooperation that's going on right now which is very, very exciting.
We talked about how we might be able to strengthen deterrence of -- against Russia and to strengthen deterrence from NATO writ large, as well as – counter-ISIL. So it was a very, very long day and it was very productive.
But more I heard, I just am more confident than ever that together, we are stronger than we are alone, that together, we are going to be able to strengthen deterrence, together, we are going to be able to make sure that we have a very secure, safe Baltic and high north region in which all of the citizens in all of countries will live prosperously in safety.
The United States is going to be continuing to -- continuing to be very engaged in this area. I look forward to continuing this conversation, and as Jan said, the European Reassurance Initiative is a signal of U.S. resolve and also our intent to make sure that NATO is as strong as it could possibly be. We look forward to the Nordic leaders summit in which President Obama is going to be hosting, I think in May -- May 13, and then at Warsaw -- the NATO summit in Warsaw – believe this summer.
There's an awful lot of activity going on and I really look forward to your questions.
STAFF: (off mic).
Q: (Inaudible) – Question for Secretary Work and that the U.S. will increase its military presence in Europe next year. Would that mean that there would be more exercises with NATO partnership countries like Sweden (inaudible)? And can that increase tensions with Russia?
MR. WORK: Well, let me take your -- the European Reassurance Initiative is designed for two things. First, it's designed to reassure both our allies and our partners in the region that the United States is working. We're taking the Article Five responsibilities of NATO extremely seriously and for the enhanced opportunities partners, such as Sweden and Finland, we hope that we will be able to expand all of our activities in the future to give them confidence that we will be there to support them throughout these activities.
Now, there is deterrence. I mean – what we are doing is to deter what we consider to be provocative and destabilizing Russian actions. And what we're trying to do is to make sure that we are not escalating tensions. So we think what we have chosen is both strong and balanced. We want to still have the opportunity to work with Russia and cooperate with them on activities of mutual interest, but we want to show that we're strong also.
So the European Reassurance Initiative was not designed to be provocative or destabilizing. It's designed to reassure our friends, deter provocative actions by Russia and to have a safe and free and prosperous Europe.
Q: I guess a follow-up. Three weeks ago, Russian warplanes flew very closely to a US destroyer. How dangerous is I guess the behavior like this from the Russian side?
MR. WORK: Well, first of all, we saw it's very unprofessional, and the problem with these types of activities is they increase the possibility of accidents. So we have told our -- told Russia in as strong of terms as possible that we think these type of activities are not helpful.
We were operating in international waters. It is all of our interests for all of us to be able to have freedom of the seas and freedom of the skies, over the international seas. And so we made clear to Russia that we do not -- we think that their actions are very, very provocative and dangerous because they may lead to misunderstanding.
STAFF: -- (inaudible) --
Q: (inaudible) -- basically on the -- (inaudible).
(CROSSTALK)
Q: (inaudible) Some days ago the U.S. ambassador to NATO, Douglas Lute made a statement about –enlargement of NATO. And at least –some people in Sweden –have thought that the statement meant the U.S. is no longer interested in having Sweden and Finland in NATO. Maybe you can clarify the U.S. position.
MR. WORK: Well, let me just say that I learned of the statement when I arrived here this morning. I had not heard it myself. And so as of right now, I don't really have a specific answer. It is certainly not something that was discussed in the Pentagon. So, I just have to clarify that the statement was. So I can't give you a specific answer on exactly what Ambassador Lute was talking about.
It could be that it was taken out of context. I just don't know.
Q: (inaudible) -- clarify the U.S. position on NATO membership for Sweden and Finland?
MR. WORK: As far as I know, the U.S. position is we handle each case on a case-by-case basis. And we do it as an alliance together, and we weigh the positives and minuses and the strategic benefits of doing so. So, I believe that we will continue to operate on a case-by-case basis.
But again, I'm not -- I will see Ambassador Lute actually tomorrow evening, and I will be able to ask him. (Laughter.)
Q: (inaudible) -- National Swedish Radio. –You said earlier on here that here that you want to see how to strengthen deterrence towards Russia and so on. What specifically do you mean? Would you –find it possible to for instance help Sweden in a crisis which Russia would be a part of? What do you mean?
MR. WORK: Well, as part of the enhanced opportunity partnership, we work closely with Sweden now. And we encourage, as I said, exercises like Operation Northern Flag. We are constantly discussing how we can share early warning information, for example. So deterrence writ large really is to demonstrate to Russia that we are absolutely serious about our Article 5 commitments and that whatever it takes -- the United States will do whatever it takes to ensure that NATO remains intact, and there's not -- cannot be attacked by any outside force.
Q: Sweden is not part of the Article 5 agreement, so how do you regard the situation in Sweden as a close ally if something would happen in the area.
MR. WORK: This is something that we would work out with as governments. And we continue to talk a lot. I mean, essentially we discuss ways in which we can interoperate better. We discuss ways in which we can share information. But we haven't gotten into any specifics on an Article 5-like relationship.
STAFF: One more question.
Q: In Sweden, there is a discussion about – the defense of the Swedish island Gotland. How important is this island, how strategically important is this island? If there would be a conflict in the Baltic States?
MR. WORK: Well, I received at a briefing this morning, it's considered key terrain in the Balts. And so I can't talk in terms of hypotheticals and I can't talk in terms of operational planning, but it is key terrain and it's something that we would take very, very seriously if there a threat against it.
STAFF: (off mic).
Q: (Inaudible) -- What Russia –if you look at the future -- what are the predictions to make about the development within Russia with access to Baltic Sea? Do you see any positive signs or do you see a continued deterioration in the future?
MR. WORK: Well, I came here to hear the perspectives of my colleagues on that very question, so I might open it up to them to see if any of them would like to answer.
MR. SALESTRAND: Well, I can just add on. I think it’s very difficult to have a clear picture of where Russia is heading. It's –of course their issue. Let me say it like this. They have also, like many other countries, they have problems with their -- with their population, and it is falling quite heavily. They have problems with their economy and share this with many others now and then. They have problems with corruption and many other things.
So I mean, no one can actually predict what Russia is –heading against. And we are not, and I want to emphasize that, we have not discussed –‘against’ Russia, we have discussed what we must be prepared to have, to take precautions –if we have unexpected accidents or things that we cannot -- (inaudible) in our region.
MR. WORK: Yes, I would just like to emphasize was the theme of the day, deterrence. How do we make sure that attacks against NATO and our partners in the region do not occur? How do we deter those from happening?
STAFF: (off mic).
Q: But they don't seemed very deterred so far – if you look at their actions, especially the actions with the destroyer, it’s very clear that it’s a very provocative way of acting in the Baltic Sea. (So I mean, what is -- the question I'm asking is what is the future? What are you planning for? What is the next step for this cooperation and for the way you see developments in Russia?
MR. WORK: Well, for the United States, the next step has been announced. It's the European Reassurance Initiative by the end of September of 2017, we will have a full division constantly in Europe all the time. One striker brigade combat team in Germany, one airborne brigade combat team in Italy and an armored brigade combat team that is here all the time, 24/7, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
We also will be setting up an armored pre-positioned set and we continue to work with – Norway to make sure that the equipment sets in Norway are filled up and exercised. So we believe that is the next step and we continue to do venues like this to say what more could we do, what type of exercises might we do, what type of demonstrations might we do to strengthen deterrence. But the big, big move right now is the European Reassurance Initiative.
STAFF: –Ok should we turn to separate questions, separate interviews?
(CROSSTALK)
(laughter.)
Q: Question about the Host Nation Support Agreement between NATO and Sweden. The Swedish peace movement worries about, that U.S. ships can bring nuclear weapons into Swedish territory without the government's knowledge. Can you comment on that?
MR. WORK: It's been a longstanding U.S. policy to neither confirm or deny we have nuclear weapons on any of our ships at sea. And we will continue to do so.
Obviously, we will continue, if there are questions between governments, we will obviously answer all of those questions. But as a matter of policy, we simply don't comment on it.
STAFF: Okay. So – separate interviews.