Newly enlarged NATO starts drill in Finland, Norway and Sweden in defense of its Nordic turf
Newly enlarged NATO starts drill in Finland, Norway and Sweden in defense of its Nordic turf
FILE - One of three Swedish Air Force JAS 39 Gripen fighter aircraft takes off from the Blekinge Wing F17, based in Kallinge southern Sweden for a base in Sardinia to join the Nato-led operation in Libya, on Saturday, April 2, 2011. As Sweden joins NATO, it bids a final farewell to more than two centuries of neutrality. (AP Photo/Scanpix/Patric Soderstrom, File)
FILE - Swedish Navy minesweeper HMS Koster patrols in the Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden, Sunday Oct. 19 2014, as the Swedish military’s search for evidence of suspected undersea activity in its waters entered its third day on Sunday amid reports of a suspected Russian intrusion. As Sweden joins NATO, it bids a final farewell to more than two centuries of neutrality, (AP Photo/TT News Agency/Marko Saavala, File)
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks on the phone as he receives information that Hungary’s parliament has voted yes to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession, at the government headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday Feb. 26, 2024. (Magnus Lejhall/TT News Agency via AP)
FILE - Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, left, speaks during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Swedish Government headquarters Rosenbad in Stockholm, Oct. 24, 2023. Hungary’s parliament approved Sweden’s application to join NATO on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, paving the way for the Scandinavian country to become the alliance’s 32nd member. (Jonas Ekstromer/TT News Agency via AP, File)
FILE - One of three Swedish Air Force JAS 39 Gripen fighter aircraft takes off from the Blekinge Wing F17, based in Kallinge southern Sweden for a base in Sardinia to join the Nato-led operation in Libya, on Saturday, April 2, 2011. As Sweden joins NATO, it bids a final farewell to more than two centuries of neutrality. (AP Photo/Scanpix/Patric Soderstrom, File)
FILE - One of three Swedish Air Force JAS 39 Gripen fighter aircraft takes off from the Blekinge Wing F17, based in Kallinge southern Sweden for a base in Sardinia to join the Nato-led operation in Libya, on Saturday, April 2, 2011. As Sweden joins NATO, it bids a final farewell to more than two centuries of neutrality. (AP Photo/Scanpix/Patric Soderstrom, File)
FILE - Swedish Navy minesweeper HMS Koster patrols in the Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden, Sunday Oct. 19 2014, as the Swedish military’s search for evidence of suspected undersea activity in its waters entered its third day on Sunday amid reports of a suspected Russian intrusion. As Sweden joins NATO, it bids a final farewell to more than two centuries of neutrality, (AP Photo/TT News Agency/Marko Saavala, File)
FILE - Swedish Navy minesweeper HMS Koster patrols in the Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden, Sunday Oct. 19 2014, as the Swedish military’s search for evidence of suspected undersea activity in its waters entered its third day on Sunday amid reports of a suspected Russian intrusion. As Sweden joins NATO, it bids a final farewell to more than two centuries of neutrality, (AP Photo/TT News Agency/Marko Saavala, File)
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks on the phone as he receives information that Hungary’s parliament has voted yes to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession, at the government headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday Feb. 26, 2024. (Magnus Lejhall/TT News Agency via AP)
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks on the phone as he receives information that Hungary’s parliament has voted yes to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession, at the government headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday Feb. 26, 2024. (Magnus Lejhall/TT News Agency via AP)
FILE - Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, left, speaks during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Swedish Government headquarters Rosenbad in Stockholm, Oct. 24, 2023. Hungary’s parliament approved Sweden’s application to join NATO on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, paving the way for the Scandinavian country to become the alliance’s 32nd member. (Jonas Ekstromer/TT News Agency via AP, File)
FILE - Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, left, speaks during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Swedish Government headquarters Rosenbad in Stockholm, Oct. 24, 2023. Hungary’s parliament approved Sweden’s application to join NATO on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, paving the way for the Scandinavian country to become the alliance’s 32nd member. (Jonas Ekstromer/TT News Agency via AP, File)
HELSINKI (AP) — NATO kicked off an exercise on Monday to defend its newly expanded Nordic territory when more than 20,000 soldiers from 13 nations take part in drills lasting nearly two weeks in the northern regions of Finland, Norway and Sweden.
With over 4,000 Finnish soldiers taking part, the Norway-led Nordic Response 2024 represents the NATO newcomer’s largest ever participation in a foreign exercise, according to Finland’s military.
“For the first time, Finland will participate as a NATO member nation in exercising collective defense of the alliance’s regions,” the Finnish Defense Forces said in a statement.
The Swedish Armed Forces said about 4,500 personnel from its air force, army and navy would take part in the drill, which is being conducted in demanding Arctic winter conditions.
Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border with Russia, joined NATO in April 2023 in a historic move following decades of military non-alignment. With its bid now ratified by all NATO members, neighboring Sweden is currently finalizing formalities to enter the military alliance as its 32nd member — most likely in March.
Both Sweden and Finland had developed strong ties with NATO after the end of the Cold War, but public opinion remained firmly against full membership until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Nonalignment was seen as the best way to avoid tensions with Russia, their powerful neighbor in the Baltic Sea region. But the Russian aggression caused a dramatic shift in public opinion in both countries, and they applied jointly for NATO membership in May 2022.
For years, the biannual NATO drill, which has been conducted in the Arctic extremes of northern Norway, was called “Cold Response.”
However, “thanks to the NATO expansion with Finland and eventually Sweden, we are now expanding the exercise to a Nordic Response,” the Norwegian Armed Forces said on its website. This year, the drill is hosted equally by Finland, Norway and Sweden.
The pan-Nordic drill is part of Steadfast Defender 24, NATO’s biggest exercises in decades, with up to 90,000 troops involved over several months of drills that are aimed at showing that the alliance can defend all of its territory up to its border with Russia.
The participating nations in the current exercise that runs through March 15 are Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United States.
Roughly half of the participating troops will drill on land. The rest will train at sea, with over 50 participating submarines, frigates, corvettes, aircraft carriers, and various amphibious vessels, and in the air with more than 100 fighter jets, transport aircraft, maritime surveillance aircraft and helicopters, according to the Norwegian military.
The combined joint training will focus on the defense and protection of the Nordic region, Norwegian military officials said.
“We need to be able to fight back and stop anyone who tries to challenge our borders, values and democracy,” said Brigadier Tron Strand from the Royal Norwegian Air Force, Commander of the Norwegian Air Operations Center, in a statement. “With the current security situation in Europe, the exercise is extremely relevant and more important than ever before,” he added.
“The High North represents an important and strategically located area for NATO” and the Nordic Response 2024 exercise “increases Nordic preparedness and the capability to conduct large-scale joint operations in challenging weather and climate,” NATO said on its website.
Finland’s new president, Alexander Stubb, will inspect the drill together with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in northern Norway on March 7. It’s the first foreign trip for Stubb since he was sworn in as Finland’s new head of state and its supreme military commander on March 1.
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden is to visit an airbase in northern Sweden on March 11, the country’s military said.