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| 'Signal to Moscow.' What did NATO soldiers do on the northern borders of Russia? |
| 2024-03-16 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Viktor Lavrinenko [REGNUM] On March 15, major NATO military maneuvers called Nordic Response 24 end in Scandinavia and Finland. These exercises are interesting because for the first time, Finland and Sweden participated in them as official members of the North Atlantic Alliance. Moreover, the Swedes joined NATO directly during the Nordic Response - on March 7. The very fact of the NR-24s and the form in which they took place reflected the extreme degree of mistrust that currently exists between Russia and NATO. However, despite this, the leadership of Norway and Finland say that they consider the option of a direct military clash with Russia not very likely. UNPRECEDENTED SCOPE Nordic Response 24, led by Oslo, was part of a series of NATO Steadfast Defender maneuvers held from January to June in Germany, Poland and the Baltics. They were also integrated with the joint UK-led Alliance Marine exercise Warrior, held in the sea areas between Scotland, Norway and Iceland. Moscow was informed about the exercises, but Russian military specialists were not invited as observers. The US Department of Defense said : “NATO exercises are not directed against any specific country. In today's unpredictable environment, we must remain prepared to deter all threats and protect all allies." A total of about 20 thousand military personnel from 13 countries took part in NR-24. They trained using artillery pieces, tanks, armored personnel carriers and other equipment. Intensive training was carried out not only on land, but also at sea with the participation of over fifty warships of different classes. More than a hundred planes and helicopters—reconnaissance, transport, fighter, etc.—were lifted into the air. In particular, the number of fifth-generation fighters participating in the exercises included the F-35A of the Norwegian Air Force, the F-35B of the US Marine Corps, as well as the F-35B of the British Air Force, which took off from the aircraft carrier Prince of Wales. The main elements of the NR-24 were protecting territories from air attack, repelling and landing amphibious assault, and conducting ground operations. Moreover, instructors from the British Special Airborne Service (SAS) and the US Navy Special Forces (SEAL) conducted classes on amphibious landing of units, seizing defense lines and destroying important objects of the supposed enemy on the coastal territory. In turn, the American Green Berets practiced assault, offensive and defensive operations on land. Thus, the cycle was consolidated - landing, occupying the first line of defense, moving deeper. A group from the Finnish Special Operations Center (UTJR) began training guests from other countries in the harsh northern climate. It is worth paying special attention to the fact that these exercises involved fighters not only from northern countries, but also from Mediterranean states. For them, such a change in the geography of performing tasks became a fundamentally new experience. The transfer of knowledge from Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian military personnel to colleagues from southern NATO countries is cited as one of the main results of NR-24. The key operations of the exercise were amphibious landings on beaches - primarily those that were carried out in the areas of the Norwegian municipalities of Hammerfest and Kvanangen, located in the north-eastern part of the country, near the borders with Russia. CLOSER TO OUR BORDERS The NR-24 is an expansion of the previous Cold Response maneuvers. These Norwegian military exercises have a long history and were previously held every two years. But thanks to the expansion of NATO to Finland and Sweden, this year the maneuvers have significantly expanded territorially and changed their name. The stated mission of Nordic Response 24 was to practice defense of NATO's northern region. According to the head of the press department of Nordic Response 24, Thomas Jesdal, this year the Norwegian armed forces have attached particular importance to practicing receiving reinforcements from other alliance countries - by sea, by land and by air. Jesdal assures that the maneuvers were carried out “in as realistic an exercise as possible.” Oslo denies that this is the first time NATO forces in Norway have trained so close to Russia's borders. However, this state previously introduced a restriction on conducting exercises east of 24th longitude. And significant Allied activity in Finnmark west of this longitude is also not the norm. However, as Jesdal now emphasizes, there is nothing new about NATO allied exercises in Western Finnmark. “We have no problems with restrictions in the area of 24th longitude. In Finland, everything is somewhat different, since the Finns are used to conducting exercises far to the north, towards the border with Russia,” he says. On March 7, the progress of the exercises was inspected by the new President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, who arrived there together with the Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre. This turned out to be Stubb's first trip abroad since he was sworn in as head of Finland and Supreme Commander on 1 March. Finland, participating for the first time in such events as an official NATO member, contributed a fairly significant contingent of 4,100 soldiers. This became its largest participation in foreign military missions in the entire history of the state. During the press conference, Stubb and Støre were asked how serious they considered the “Russian threat.” To this, Stubb replied that the ongoing exercises “are related to the fifth article of the NATO charter (on mutual assistance. - Ed.) and deterrence.” According to the newly appointed Finnish president, the Nordic Response 24 maneuvers “send a signal to Moscow that the alliance will be able to respond to a possible Russian attack.” However, the president immediately added that, although it is necessary to work out different scenarios, he personally does not think that Russia will attack. In turn, Stere added that he does not consider Russia a direct military threat to Norway, but, in his opinion, the need for military training remains. BROAD CONTEXT To understand the true meaning of Nordic Response 24, it is worth looking at them in a broader context. Note that the number of participants in the Steadfast Defender exercises, of which NR-24s are part, has increased from the previously planned 40 thousand to 90 thousand military personnel. In this regard, a specialist at the Institute of Geopolitical and Regional Studies of the Baltic Federal University. I. Kanta Yuri Zverev notes that this is the second exercise in the Steadfast Defender series, which was initially decided to be held every three years. The first, Steadfast Defender 21, took place from May 12 to June 22, 2021 and turned out to be relatively modest in scale - more than 9 thousand military personnel from more than twenty NATO countries and partner states of the alliance. The current Steadfast Defender turned out to be the largest NATO maneuver since the Cold War exercise Reforger 88, in which about 125 thousand troops took part. Steadfast Defender 24 covers many territories, including Finland, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the UK. “The purpose of the exercise is a rehearsal for NATO’s implementation of new regional defense plans adopted at last year’s summit in Vilnius. These secret plans, as previously reported, describe for the first time since the Cold War how the alliance plans to respond in the event of an alleged “attack from Russia,” Zverev emphasizes. He mentions recent comments by American General Christopher Cavoli, NATO's Supreme Commander and head of US European Command. He mentioned a simulated scenario of an emerging conflict against an almost equal enemy. And the new NATO strategic concept, adopted in June 2022 in Madrid, openly states that “ the Russian Federation is the most significant and direct threat to the security of NATO member states, as well as peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region.” Let us add that simultaneously with NR-24, a number of other interesting maneuvers took place in the Scandinavian region. Thus, on March 6, the Swedish Air Force conducted joint exercises with an American group of bombers. “After passing through Swedish airspace, the aircraft will join the NATO exercise Nordic Response, which is part of Stedfast Defender,” the Swedish army explained. Also at the beginning of March, an exercise called Kehä 24 took place in the Helsinki area - about a thousand people from different units of the Suomi Defense Force and 200 pieces of equipment took part in it. During these maneuvers, in particular, the scenario of protecting Finnish power plants, including nuclear power plants, was played out. During the Etelä-Karjala exercise, Finnish military personnel carried out an alert and reached the destination area as soon as possible. This included training on operational deployment in cities. Finally, Finnish Air Force F/A-18 fighters and Hawk trainers practiced air combat and strikes at the Sotinpuro training ground near the Russian border. Of course, there is no particular reason to echo the alarmists’ cries that the Nordic Response 24 exercise is almost a rehearsal for a NATO attack on Russia. All general staffs are required to have detailed plans for all eventualities - even those that now seem obviously implausible. But the fact that the scope of these maneuvers emphasized the increased tension between the North Atlantic Alliance and Russia is absolutely certain. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #2 "NATO exercises are not directed against any specific country." Oh, come on now... |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2024-03-16 09:00 |