NATO will begin military exercises on Monday to defend its newly expanded Nordic territory, with more than 20,000 troops from 13 countries taking part in exercises lasting almost two weeks in the northern regions of Finland, Norway and Sweden.
With the participation of more than 4,000 Finnish soldiers, the Norwegian-led Nordic Response 2024 represents the largest participation ever by a NATO newcomer in a foreign exercise, according to the Finnish military.
"For the first time, Finland will participate as a NATO member nation in the exercise of collective defense of the alliance's regions," the Finnish Defense Forces said in a statement.
Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia, joined NATO in April 2023 in a historic move after decades of military non-alignment.
Now that its candidacy has been ratified by all NATO members, neighboring Sweden is finalizing the procedures to join the military alliance as its 32nd member, probably 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 the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Non-alignment had been seen as the best way to avoid tensions with Russia, its powerful neighbor in the Baltic Sea region. But Russian aggression caused a dramatic shift in public opinion in both countries, which jointly applied to join NATO in May 2022.
For years, NATO's biannual exercise, which has been held in the Arctic reaches of northern Norway, was called "Cold Response." However, “thanks to 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 will be held equally in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The nations participating in the exercise that will last until March 15 are Belgium, Great Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United States.
About half of the participating troops will conduct ground exercises. The rest will train at sea, with the participation of more than 50 submarines, frigates, corvettes, aircraft carriers and various amphibious ships, and in the air with more than 100 combat aircraft, transport aircraft, maritime surveillance aircraft and helicopters, according to the Norwegian army.
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," Brigadier Tron Strand of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, commander of the Norwegian Air Operations Center, said in a statement.
"With the current security situation in Europe, the exercise is extremely relevant and more important than ever," he added. "The High North represents an important and strategically located area for NATO" and the Nordic Response 2024 exercise "increases Nordic readiness and the ability to conduct large-scale joint operations in challenging weather and climate conditions," NATO said in your website.
Finland's new president, Alexander Stubb, will inspect the drill alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in northern Norway on March 7. It is Stubb's first trip abroad since he was sworn in as Finland's new head of state and its supreme military commander on March 1.
