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15,000 NATO troops from 14 nations, including the US, Sweden, Finland and Ukraine, start drills near Russia

Samizdat | May 16, 2022

Large-scale NATO military drills started in Estonia on Monday. The exercise dubbed ‘Hedgehog 2022’ is one of the largest in the Baltic nation’s history, according to the military bloc. The drills will involve some 15,000 troops from 14 nations, including both military bloc members and their partners.

Soldiers from Finland, Sweden, Georgia and Ukraine are among those that will take part in the exercise, Finnish public broadcaster Yle reported. The drills will include all branches of the armed forces and will involve air, sea and land exercises, as well as cyber warfare training, according to the broadcaster.

According to a NATO statement, the drills will also see the US Navy Wasp-class landing ship ‘Kearsarge’ take part in the exercises. Both the military bloc and Estonian Defense Forces deputy commander, Major General Veiko-Vello Palm, have denied that the drills just over 60km from the Russian border have anything to do with Moscow’s ongoing military action in Ukraine.

The drills started just a day after Finland and Sweden officially announced their plans to join NATO, and were planned long before the conflict in Ukraine broke out, Western officials have said.

The exercises in Estonia are, however, just one part of NATO’s large-scale military activities near the Russian border. Another Baltic state, Lithuania, is hosting the ‘Iron Wolf’ exercise, which involves 3,000 NATO troops and 1,000 pieces of military equipment, including Germany’s Leopard 2 tanks.

Two of NATO’s biggest exercises – ‘Defender Europe’ and ‘Swift Response’ – are taking place in Poland and eight other countries, involving 18,000 troops from 20 nations, according to NATO’s statement on Friday.

“Exercises like these show that NATO stands strong and ready to protect our nations and defend against any threat,” the military bloc’s spokesperson, Oana Lungescu, said, adding that the drills “help to remove any room for miscalculation or misunderstanding about our resolve to protect and defend every inch of allied territory.”

The NATO Response Force is currently taking part in the 7,500-strong ‘Wettiner Heide’ drills in Germany. The Mediterranean Sea is about to witness ‘Neptune series’ naval drills involving the USS ‘Harry S. Truman’ carrier strike group that will be placed under NATO command. This will only be the second time since the end of the Cold War that a US carrier group has been transferred under the military bloc’s command, NATO has said.

In June, the Baltic States and Poland will host what NATO describes as “Europe’s largest integrated air and missile defense exercise,” which would involve 23 nations.

In late April, Finland hosted NATO naval drills. Now, it is also hosting a joint land exercise, in which troops from the US, the UK, Estonia and Latvia are participating.

The massive military wargames are taking place amid heightened tensions between Russia, NATO and some of the military bloc’s partners. Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, and Sweden decided to reconsider their long-standing policy of non-alignment following a major change in public opinion after the launch of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

The development sparked a wave of criticism from Moscow, which warned that it would have to respond if Finland and Sweden join NATO. Moscow also maintains that it considers NATO’s expansion as a direct threat to its own security.

May 16, 2022 - Posted by | Militarism | , , , , ,

10 Comments »

  1. London and Washington(and the Military Industrial Complex, and NATO) will not be happy until there is a full scale WAR in Eastern Europe, with the Western Mainstream Media pointing at Vladimir Putin and calling him a Warmonger, when all he wants is NATO to NOT move eastwards(and threaten Moscow.

    When is this lunacy going to end, and how many Millions of people will have to die before it is over?

    DO NOT TRUST the Western MSM.

    Liked by 1 person

    Comment by brianharryaustralia | May 16, 2022 | Reply

  2. They’re all going to gang up on Russia just like was done to Germany just like a hoard of rats.

    Liked by 1 person

    Comment by The Willpower | May 17, 2022 | Reply

    • Napoleon tried it,(Took an army of 1,000,000 soldiers into Russia, and came back with about 20,000).
      Hitler tried it and his army was smashed, as was Napoleon’s, not only by the Russian military, but by the Brutal Russian Winter…….
      This allowed to Allies to ‘defeat’ what was left of the brutalised German army on D Day, and claim that they had defeated Germany to win WWII…..

      It was a good effort, but, it was the Russians who “won” WWII.

      Liked by 1 person

      Comment by brianharryaustralia | May 17, 2022 | Reply

      • Back there then, Russia had a massive army, alas, not any more. Thanks.

        Liked by 1 person

        Comment by The Willpower | May 17, 2022 | Reply

        • I think that, If Russia needs an army, it will raise an army to defend itself. Stalin used to have a line of Machine guns, at the rear of his army, and anyone who deserted, was mown down, as if they were the enemy………

          Russia will be RUTHLESS, when required.

          Liked by 1 person

          Comment by brianharryaustralia | May 17, 2022 | Reply

          • Yea, Chinese troops but China is sneaky. Putin stands down a lot – makes threats and does not follow thru. Mind you, I am pro
            Putin and have been for a decade. Stalin was a SOB. Russian pow’s captured by Germany and released to go home were
            greeted by Stalin and tortured then murdered just because they were captured. Unbelievable. I don’t know who was worse;
            Stalin or Sherman of the Union army. He was a brute, too.

            Liked by 1 person

            Comment by The Willpower | May 17, 2022 | Reply

            • I.e. – Sherman was mentally unstable.

              Liked by 1 person

              Comment by The Willpower | May 17, 2022 | Reply

              • “WAR IS HELL”…….

                Liked by 1 person

                Comment by brianharryaustralia | May 17, 2022 | Reply

            • Sherman may have been unstable(I have no idea), but, Psychopath General Curtis(Bombs Away) LeMay invented Carpet Bombing during the Korean War(“We destroyed 90% of the buildings and killed 20% of the Population”)and during the American War in Vietnam he advocated using an Atom Bomb to kill even more people………and he was only ONE of the psychopaths in the Pentagon.

              The USA has an appalling record of War Crimes since WWII………

              Liked by 1 person

              Comment by brianharryaustralia | May 17, 2022 | Reply

              • I just read some on Lemay as I had never heard of him. They said he was a monster but he was our monster so the hid him under
                the bed rather than destroy his character. Yea, he was horrific and wanted destroy all of Japan esp. the civilians. He was basically
                a psychopath. ” General Curtis LeMay. He was the general in charge of the Pacific bombing campaign against the Japanese, and he was one of the most bloodthirsty men in military history — modern or otherwise. The Japanese likely felt that their backs were against the wall, and surrender was a last resort, considering the unrelenting brutality they had been shown by General LeMay. It is quite possible, considering how much of a butcher he was, that some were unsure he would even accept a surrender if it were up to him.”
                God help us. Thanks.

                Liked by 1 person

                Comment by The Willpower | May 17, 2022 | Reply


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