Military forces from NATO "invaded" neutral Sweden from Norway for the first time. The border crossing was part og the NATO-excercise "Cold Resonse 2010". Never before have a military NATO excersice in Northern Norway also taken place in Sweden. The scenario was that enemy forces played by Norwegian and Swedish armoured forces occupied the Swedish side of the border at Narvik. These forces are then to be thrown out of the area by Dutch and French NATO forces, and Finnish units (participation via Partnership for Peace).

The border crossing and the fighting on Swedish side was approved by the Swedish and Norwegian governments. Sweden approved the crossing because it would furher strenghten the Nordic defence cooperation, and the Partnership for Peace programme.

The majority of the Swedish population is against a Swedish membership in NATO, and there were some protest at the border during the excercise.

A Norwegian Leopard 2 at the border to Sweden. Photo: Försvarsmakten.