Wieslander interviewed by BBC News from Vilnius

Sweden's largest military exercise in twenty-five years highlights the strategically important island of Gotland in defending NATO allies.

Finland proceeding without Sweden should be a last resort because of all the strategic and logistical difficulties it would create.

NATO is approaching its ninth round of enlargement. The accession of Sweden and Finland—two solid democracies and defenders of the international-rules based order—into the Alliance will strengthen the core of the transatlantic community.