By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - NATO member Denmark said on Tuesday it aims to strengthen defence ties with other Nordic countries to counter the Russian threat in the Baltic Sea region and protect critical infrastructure.
In a new foreign and security policy strategy, the country's government calls for more joint military exercises and coordination of defence plans with other Nordic countries.
"The Nordic countries are now more united than ever before in the area of security and defence policy," the report said, underlining Finland's recent NATO enrolment and Sweden's pending application to the alliance.
Danes voted last year to join the European Union's defence policy, signalling a shift to deepen defence ties in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Denmark is already working with Sweden, Norway and Finland to create a unified Nordic air defence.
The strategy acknowledges that Denmark has not taken the security threat from Russia in the Baltic Sea region seriously enough and points to shortcomings in its ability to defend its own territory. Denmark aims to meet a NATO spending target of 2% of GDP by 2030.
"We must strengthen Danish defence and security and further contribute to NATO's deterrence and defence, especially in the neighbourhood area," the strategy said.
It underlines the need to make Danish society more robust to deal with cyber and terrorist threats, espionage and influence campaigns.
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Christina Fincher)