Finland to conduct joint military exercise with the US
Finland plans to conduct joint military exercises with the US and other allies, as indicated by the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Finland, Jussi Niinisto.
According to him, they plan to attract recruits, reservists, and soldiers to participate in the exercises. Niinisto said that Sweden, the United States, and "other countries" will also take part in the exercises. The Minister specified that the events would be similar to the Aurora 2017 exercises that were held in Sweden and involved 19,000 military men.
According to Niinisto, the exercises would help the military prepare a crisis, but he did not specify what kind of threat there was.
In September, with the participation of the NATO countries, the large-scale exercises, Aurora 2017, took place in Sweden, during which the military practiced defending the island of Gotland’s against an intruders’ attack. In addition, exercises were conducted in the Stockholm area.
At the end of October, at a meeting with Russia's Permanent Representative to NATO Alexander Grushko, the alliance representatives declared that Moscow had provided false data on the scale of Zapad-2017 exercises. NATO believes that the number of the military personnel taking part in the exercises was more than the 12,700 declared by the Russian Defense Ministry. According to NATO estimates, up to 100,000 military personnel participated in Zapad 2017.
After the meeting, Grushko called the alliance's statements anti-Russian propaganda, adding that NATO's calculations were wrong. The exercises were held from September 14th to September 20th in Russia and Belarus. The representatives of seven states, including NATO countries, observed the exercises. Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin also attended the exercises.