Warships equipped with missile defence must swiftly move to the Baltic Sea, if Russia advances and threatens Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania, concludes an op-ed in Berlingske Newspaper written by Lene Espersen, the foreign spokesperson of Konservative.
“The situation is uncertain from a European perspective, and certainly also from a Danish one,” Espersen wrote.
“That’s why we here at home have to react with timely caution and quickly get our defence adjusted to the new situation."
With Russia looking increasingly likely to annex the Crimea peninsula in Ukraine, opposition parties Venstre (V) and Dansk Folkeparti (DF) have both voiced their support for the former defence minister's proposal.
No rearming plans
While the defence minister, Nicolai Wammen (S), acknowledges that the Crimea crisis will lead to “certain strategic considerations”, he told Berlingske that he didn’t have plans to make changes to the national defence.
Upgrading Denmark’s three largest warships to detect and destroy ballistic missiles would cost approximately 1.3 billion kroner and take several years to implement.