Tension rises between Russia and the West. With the participation of thousands of soldiers the NATO is proceeding with two major exercises on the “sides” of Russia, in response to Russian revisionism. Reinforcement of Russian troops on the border with Europe is announced by Moscow, which once again accuses the West of planning to attack it.

Large-scale military exercises of the now-expanded NATO in Scandinavia are in full swing.

Under the leadership of Finland – participating for the first time as a Member State – of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, more than 20,000 soldiers participate in the Nordic Response 24 exercise.

At the same time, in Poland, the Dragon-24 exercise is also in full swing, also involving 20,000 soldiers.

Both exercises are part of the largest military training exercises since the end of the Cold War, which NATO is conducting on the “side” of Russia with approx. 90,000 soldiers and from 31 Member States with the participation of Sweden. But Moscow responds to NATO by militarily strengthening its western borders.

“Seeing the growing military presence of NATO near the borders of Russia and the expansion of NATO with the accession of Finland and, in the future, Sweden, we have implemented measures to strengthen the deployment of our troops in the northwestern and western strategic sectors of country,” says the Russian Defense Minister. Sergei Shoigu.

From Prague, 1,670 kilometers away from the Russian capital, the French president is calling on Europeans not to panic.

“We are approaching a moment in the history of our Europe where we will be required not to be cowards,” the French president characteristically underlines.

He notes that we should respond to History and the courage it requires.

Macron’s stance in favor of Europe’s strategic autonomy has been known for five years and he took care to restate it by leaving open the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine a few days ago

“Peace is no longer a given. Unfortunately, the war is on our borders”, says the head of European Diplomacy, Josep Borrell.

On the occasion of the Russian wiretapping of German military conversations, Moscow again plays the card of existential threat, talking about an attack plan by the West.

“What the world community has seen is the long-standing organized intention of NATO member Germany to conduct military operations against Russia,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Moscow’s goal is to break the unity of the West, Washington responds and makes it clear that it will not fall into Putin’s trap.

“This is a crude attempt, a clear attempt by the Russians to sow discord,” said the spokesman for the US National Security Council, John Kirby, adding: “We are not going to accept it. This is what the Russians would like us to do.”

For its part, Berlin is talking about an information war and it is possible that Moscow intercepted the conversation through widespread surveillance.

THE new dimension to this year’s exercise – Swedes and Finns take part in NATO’s biggest exercise since the Cold War era

In Finland’s snowy north, Swedish and Finnish soldiers are taking part in NATO’s biggest exercise since the Cold War era, to test the alliance’s ability to defensively shield locations like this one on Europe’s northern edge.

Swedish and Finnish armed forces have been training together for years, but Finland’s and soon Sweden’s accession to NATO add a new dimension to this year’s exercise.

“(Finland’s) joining marks a new phase,” said Brigadier General Manu Tuominen, commander of the Finnish troops participating in the exercise. “There is still a lot to learn, but we are well prepared and exercises like this make us a better member,” he added.

Finland joined NATO last year and Sweden is poised to cross the Alliance’s threshold after Hungary ratified the Nordic country’s accession protocol. Hungarian President Tamas Suliok signed the protocol for Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization today.

Sweden abandoned the policy of neutrality it maintained during two World Wars, as well as the Cold War era, seeking safety in the bosom of NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The scenario of the exercise included firing of Leopard tanks and tactical maneuvers of soldiers in the snowy forest. During a break, Swedish Brigadier General Rikard Johansson was eager to ask Finnish officials about their first impressions of their country joining NATO. “We look forward to joining NATO as soon as possible,” he told reporters.

Incident in the Black Sea between Russian and French fighters

With the climate clearly cold war, there was a recent incident in the Black Sea between Russian and French fighters

Two Russian Su-27 fighter jets took off and were in close proximity to three French, two fighters and a radar aircraft flying over the Black Sea. As reported by the Tass news agency citing information from the Russian Ministry of Defense, the French aircraft, after the presence of the Russian ones, changed course and moved away from the Russian border.

Commission: European defense policy on two pillars – Common arms purchases and 1.5 billion euros for the defense industry

At the same time, the European Commission today presented its proposal for the new defense industrial strategy of the European Union.

A proposal that envisages joint arms purchases and a program for the European defense industry amounting to 1.5 billion. euro. These are both the main pillars presented by the Commission to strengthen the defense capabilities of the countries of the bloc. The aim is that by 2030 EU members will procure at least 40% of their defense equipment in joint cooperation.

Ukraine: “Hit” on a Russian warship

At the same time, another important military success is claimed by the Ukrainian forces, in the Black Sea.

Kiev claims it sank the Russian warship Sergei Kotov with unmanned naval vessels. As seen in the Ukrainian military video, the Russian ship in the Kerch Strait in Crimea was hit at least twice and large explosions followed.