Major naval military exercises involving 14 NATO countries including Belgium began on Saturday in the Baltic Sea under German command, in an attempted show of force against Russia amid its ongoing war against Ukraine.
30 naval vessels, 19 aircraft and multiple land vehicles are involved in the training exercise codenamed "Northern Coasts 23", the German Navy said in a statement on Saturday.
More than 3,200 soldiers will train "for the first time since these manoeuvres began in 2007 in a realistic scenario as part of NATO's defence", explained Admiral Stephan Haisch, who will be leading the exercises.
In previous years, NATO soldiers mainly prepared to ward off attacks by pirates, terrorists and traffickers, he added.
The operations, which are set last until September 23, will take place mainly in the coastal waters of Estonia and Latvia as well as the eastern and central parts of the Baltic Sea.
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The training will include port defence drills and simulated amphibious attacks on land targets. According to Haisch, the core aim of the exercise is to optimise cooperation between NATO's naval, land and air forces.
The "Northern Coasts" exercises were launched in 2007. Their command alternates each year between Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
In addition to Germany and Belgium, the 2023 edition will include participants from the United States, France, Italy, Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Canada, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden.
The German Navy added that this year's exercises will not take place near Kaliningrad, the heavily-armed Russian enclave sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic coast, in order to avoid provoking Moscow.
Russia also regularly conducts military exercises in the Baltic, most recently in August.
