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NATO will launch the combat phase of its greatest military war game since the Cold War, drawing Russian accusations of "sabotaging" the transatlantic security alliance.
Tens of thousands of soldiers and dozens of ships will be deployed during early maneuvers Thursday as part of a fictional battle against an invasion force in Norway.
NATO insists that Operation Trident Juncture does not target Russia, despite East-West tensions, including the annexation of Crimea by Moscow and Washington's promise to abandon a key agreement on control nuclear weapons during the Cold War.
The exercise also highlights the geopolitical battle on the Arctic, where global warming has opened up areas of potential economic exploitation. Russia is trying to position itself as the first military power in the region and is strengthening its presence in defense.
"In recent years, the security environment in Europe has deteriorated considerably," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Wednesday in Brussels. "The scenario is fictional – but the lessons we learn will be real."
The exercise is expected to involve 50,000 people, 10,000 vehicles, 250 aircraft and 65 ships, including the US air strike group Harry S Truman. The 29 NATO member countries, as well as Finland and Sweden, will participate.
Admiral James Foggo, who will oversee the exercise, said it was a "message to anyone likely to commit any aggressive act" to bring the alliance to invoke his vow of collective defense "Article 5".
General Rune Jakobsen, commander of the Norwegian joint headquarters, said that it was not necessary that Moscow "be afraid" because the main exercise should take place at 1,000 km from the border Russian air operations will be at least 500 km away. .
But the sheer scale of the maneuvers, which will also include elements of cyber and hybrid warfare, is another marker of growing mistrust between Moscow and NATO capitals. President Donald Trump warned last week that he would step down from the 1987 intermediate-range nuclear arms missile treaty because Russia was violating it – accusation cited by Mr. Stoltenberg, but denied by Moscow.
The Russian Defense Minister said on Wednesday that NATO was practicing "offensive maneuvers" at the country's borders.
"The scale of operational and combat training near our borders is expanding, its intensity is increasing. [Nato] Member states practice offensive combat maneuvers, "said Sergei Shoigu at a meeting with Belarusian military officials.
"NATO's military activity near our borders has reached an unprecedented level since the Cold War," he added. "The alliance's policy is aimed at increasing its advanced military presence on the east flank."
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, previously accused NATO of "reckless saber maneuvering" in the High Arctic and promised that Russia would "take the necessary measures to ensure its own security".
Russia and Norway share a 196-kilometer land border, but it is the increased concentration on the Arctic that has increased the tension between the two neighbors.
Over the past decade, the Kremlin has made the Arctic one of its top military priorities, including the construction or renovation of six military bases. It has also significantly improved its Northern Fleet, based only 100 km from the Norwegian border. Twenty-three ships have been added to its Arctic Navy over the past five years, including nuclear submarines.
Moscow said Norway's decision to double the size of the US navy's presence in the country to 770 soldiers violated the Cold War agreements designed to maintain peaceful relations between the two countries.
Russia's condemnation of NATO's exercise comes one month after its biggest war games since the Cold War, inviting Chinese troops to take part in land, naval and air exercises in Siberia and in the far east of the country. Last year, Russia organized mass war games with Belarus, near the eastern border of the EU.
