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Finland began conducting large-scale military exercises near the borders of Russia

A new member of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) - Finland, launched an air force exercise on Monday, involving more than a dozen countries and a total of 150 aircraft. This large-scale event took place a few weeks after the official accession of the northern European country to NATO.

Within about two weeks, military and combat aircraft from fourteen countries, including 12 NATO members, will conduct maneuvers, mainly in the northern regions of Sweden. It is worth noting that Sweden, a neighbor of Finland, also applied to join the alliance in May last year, however, Ankara created obstacles in the way of Stockholm, linking its approval for the expansion of the military bloc with the deportation from Sweden of all activists of the PKK banned in Turkey ( PKK).

Finland, which has maintained a policy of military neutrality for decades and shares a 1300-kilometer border with Russia, became a new member of NATO in April. The Scandinavian country has long been a close partner of the Euro-Atlantic bloc since the 1990s.

Among the participants in the ongoing Arctic Challenge exercise, which has been held twice a year since 2013 by the Nordic countries, this year are the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, the Czech Republic and the United States, as well as countries -organizers - Finland, Sweden and Norway.

The exercise began with a "simulation of defensive operations to protect airspace from attackers" and will go on to develop offensive elements such as air-to-ground attacks, according to The Defense Post.

The event is also attended by aircraft of NATO's early warning and control system (AWACS), which can monitor a vast territory almost equal to the territory of Poland, the American edition notes.

 

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