NATO Begins Exercise in Finland, Norway, Sweden

Finland participates with over 4,000 soldiers in the “Nordic Response 2024”, meaning it will become the first new country NATO has the largest participation in a military alliance exercise, according to the Finnish Army.

For the first time, Finland participates as a NATO member in the joint protection exercise of all regions of the alliance”, Finland's Defence Forces said in a communiqué.

Sweden's Armed Forces said that 4,500 members of the Air Force, the army, and its navy will take part in training, which is being held in Arctic winter conditions.

Finland, which shares a 1,340km-long border with Russia, joined NATO in April 2023, following a historic decision ending military neutrality several decades. Its neighbour, Sweden, is completing the formalisation to join the military alliance as a 32nd member, as its membership bid has been ratified by all NATO members.

Sweden is officially expected to be part of NATO this month.

Finland and Sweden had developed strong relations with NATO after the end of the Cold War, but public opinion had strongly opposed full membership until Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Military neutrality was seen as the best way to avoid tensions with Russia, their powerful neighbour in the Baltic Sea region. But Russian aggression changed the public opinion in both countries, and they applied for becoming NATO members in May 2022.

For many years this NATO exercise, held every two years at Arctic extremes north of Norway, has been called “the Cold Answer”.

However, NATO's <x0pm of expansion with Finland and finally Sweden, we are now expanding exercises in a Nordic response”, Norway's Armed Forces said in a communiqué.

This Nordic exercise is part of the Steadfast Defender 24, the largest NATO exercises in recent decades, where 90,000 troops will participate during months of exercise aimed at proving that the alliance could protect all its territories to the border with Russia.

The countries participating in the current exercise, held from March 15th, are Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United States. / REL/