NATO holds major exercises in Finland's Arctic

In the snowy landscape of Finland's Lapland region, the sound of cannons and rockets is heard, while 3600 soldiers from the United States, Sweden, Great Britain, France and other NATO member countries are conducting exercises that will last through November.

They are part of NATO's largest artillery exercise in Europe, dubbed Dynamic Front 25, which includes exercises in Estonia, Germany, Romania and Poland, all of which participate in about 5 thousand soldiers.

Joel Linnainmaki from the Finland Institute for International Relations said mass exercises should be regarded as a message to Russia, with which Finland shares a border line of 1,340-kilometers.

These NATO exercises are intended to witness to other countries, in this case especially Russia, that the alliance is united and able to protect its members”, He said.

These are the first large-scale exercises under way in Finland since the Nordic country joined the alliance last year, following Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Colonel Janne Makitalo, who runs the Dinamic Front 25 exercise in Finland, said the main goal is training and increasing operational interaction among alliance artillery units, as well as preparing troops for difficult conditions in the Arctic, now that Norway, Sweden and Finland are NATO member states.

“is certainly sending message that we are able to train together and that we are strengthening our” capacities, He told reporters.

“Artillery is essentially “mbreti and Queen” of the battlefield, as we have seen from the experience of fighting in Ukraine”, Mr. Makitalo said.

He dismissed the idea that NATO could provoke Moscow by displaying its military power on Russia's eve.

This isn't any kind of force display”,He insisted.

“In that regard, Finland's membership in the alliance added “280,000 soldiers to the northern wing of NATO”, He said. / VOA