Nato’s biggest peacetime drill kicks off, angering Moscow

coPeNHAGeN: Nato’s biggest military manoeuvres since the Cold War kicked off in Norway in a hypothetical scenario that involves restoring the Scandinavian country’s sovereignty after an attack by a “fictitious aggressor.”

Russia, which shares a border with Norway, was briefed by Nato on the Trident Juncture 2018 drill and invited to monitor it, but Moscow is still angered by the exercise. Russia’s defence minister had warned that Moscow could be forced to respond to increased Nato activity close to its western border.

“Nato’s military activities near our borders have reached the highest level since the Cold War times,” Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday, noting that the war games will be “simulating offensive military action”.

The wargames bring together around 50,000 personnel from all 29 Nato allies, plus partners Finland and Sweden.

The drill scheduled to end Nov 7 takes place in central and eastern Norway, the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea.

Its aim is to ensure that Nato forces are trained, able to operate together, and ready to respond to any threat from any direction, according to the 29-member alliance.

In a joint op-ed published yesterday in Dagens Nyheter, one of Sweden’s largest newspapers, the Nordic defence and foreign ministers said they saw “no military threats against the Nordic countries today, but we live in an unpredictable and uncertain time”.

“Russia has both shown the will and ability to use military force to achieve strategic goals,” Sweden’s Peter Hultqvist wrote together with Frank Bakke-Jensen of Norway, Denmark’s Claus Hjort Frederiksen, Jussi Niinisto of Finland and Iceland’s foreign minister, Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson.