The head of the Russian delegation at the negotiations in Vienna on military security and arms control, Konstantin Gavrilov, expressed concern about the large-scale NATO exercises called Steadfast Defender. On air on the Rossiya 24 TV channel, he said that these exercises, which involve about 90 thousand military personnel, as well as a significant amount of equipment, are aimed not at defense, but at “testing the waters” for possible provocations against the Russian Federation.

Gavrilov pointed out that during the exercises, equipment is being transferred in the eastern direction, which simulates the defense of the so-called Suwalki corridor connecting Poland and Lithuania. According to him, such actions can be considered an obvious provocation and a demonstration of NATO’s intentions to “test the waters” for further provocative actions against Russia.

Earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of NATO's joint forces in Europe, Christopher Cavoli, announced the holding of the "largest in recent decades" multi-month exercise Steadfast Defender-2024, which will involve about 50 warships, 80 aircraft and 1,1 thousand units of ground military equipment, including 133 tanks. The exercise will cover the Baltic countries, Poland and Germany and will be one of the alliance's largest military events in recent years.