ion, and that Denmark should keep troops on it at all times to protect it from such foreign aggression. This policy remained in force after NATO was formed, and Denmark had joined it: the Soviets accepted the stationing of Danish troops, which were part of NATO but were far from that alliance's most powerful element, but strongly objected to the presence on the island of other NATO troops: particularly of US troops.
This caused diplomatic problems at least twice: once when an American helicopter landed outside the town of Svaneke due to engine problems in a NATO exercise over the Baltic Sea, and once (sometime between 1999 and 2003) when the Danish government suggested shutting down Almegårdens Kaserne, the local barracks, since "the island could quickly be protected by troops from surrounding areas and has no strategic importance after the fall of the Iron Curtain"
