NATO Launches Major Military Exercise Along Russia’s Finnish Border

Russia’s Izvestia newspaper is reporting Monday that ”NATO launches major military exercise along Russia’s border” – in reference to new major drills kicking off in Finland, also involving the militaries of Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The exercises are dubbed Northern Strike 125 and Northern Star 25 and involve some 7,000 total personnel and aim to develop military cooperation in the northern Scandinavian region among NATO allies. They are set to last until May 31, and Moscow sees them as a provocation given that Finland shares a lengthy border with Russia.

Finland only became a NATO country in April 2023, largely as a direct result of the Ukraine war, and is the 31st member of the Western military alliance.

Izvestia has detailed that attack helicopters are in use, as well as drones in the north of Finland. The British contingent has deployed AH-64E Apache combat helicopters, and brought a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) battery.

“This exercise complex is a logical continuation of previous years’ exercises to develop capabilities together with our allies,” Finnish Army Lieutenant Colonel Jukka Vuorisalmi, who is overseeing the exercise, said.

Finnish media has described the annual exercises in the context Russia’s ‘threat’ to the Baltic region:

NATO exercises on the northeastern flank have recently been following one another. Earlier, Izvestia wrote that Siil 2025 exercises are currently underway in Estonia, which began on May 5.

Their stated purpose was to “defend the region” together with the allies, as well as to check the combat readiness of the Armed Forces of Estonia and the North Atlantic Alliance.

And while the Kremlin understands the drills to be ‘nothing new’ – it is taking note of the growing size of these inter-NATO military exercises so close to Russia’s border.

TASS writes in its coverage of the Finnish-hosted drills:

According to the expert, the current exercise is nothing new, it’s just that its magnitude is larger, and this is exactly what makes it a threat to Russia.

“We need to show an adequate response. For the time being, we will simply watch what they do, taking it into account. NATO keeps saying that it will only implement defense scenarios, but the drills it holds also practice actions suitable for aggressive operations,” the analyst stressed.

The significance also lies in the fact that until the last 3+ years of war in Ukraine, Finland and Sweden maintained neutrality, in pursuit of delicate balance of good-neighborly relations first with the Soviet Union and then with Russia.

Finland shares a 1,340-kilometre (830 mi) border with Russia, and Moscow has previously warned that this could result of the greater militarization of the Baltic regions. President Putin in 2023 had brushed off Finland and Sweden entering NATO as but a “meaningless” move which will in the end only harm their own national interests.

Both had previously economically benefited from their positive relations with Russia, but now border closures and worsening relations have been the trend. It goes without saying that NATO holding drills so close to Russia’s border does little to foster Ukraine peace talks and dialogue. The warring sides are currently talking about potential ‘direct’ negotiations set for Istanbul.