DISINFO: NATO Freezing Winds-24 exercises are openly anti-Russian
SUMMARY
During the openly anti-Russian manoeuvres Freezing Winds-24, artillery salvos from British troops thunder at a training ground near the city of Kotka, 40 km from the Russian border and 170 km from St. Petersburg.
Why are the "Baltic Tigers" showing their teeth to Russia? The organisers noted that the areas near Finland "create unique conditions for practising NATO's collective defence in the Baltic Sea." Such "defence" of the Baltic waters reveals the true "strategic meaning" of the manoeuvres, NATO's unhealthy interest in the bases of the nuclear submarines of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative portraying NATO as an aggressive and hostile alliance planning to attack Russia.
Freezing Winds is an annual Finnish-Navy-hosted multinational naval exercise conducted in the Gulf of Finland and the greater Northern Baltic Sea. The exercise is designed to increase interoperability and enhance strategic and tactical cooperation between Finland’s Navy and U.S. Forces.
The Freezing Winds exercise is an important component of NATO’s commitment to security in the Baltic Sea region. By bringing together maritime forces from various NATO nations, the exercise enhances interoperability, strengthens partnerships between Allies, and demonstrates collective defence capabilities.
Recently, Russian politicians have adopted a particularly aggressive rhetoric against NATO, accusing it of direct involvement in the war in Ukraine, which is Moscow's unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Kyiv.
These and other similar Russian threats have forced NATO to ensure its security by various methods, including military exercises. Following Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, NATO member countries revised their Strategic Concept. The North Atlantic Alliance recognised Russia as ‘the most significant and direct threat’ to security in Europe, but emphasised at the same time that ‘NATO does not seek confrontation and poses no threat to the Russian Federation.’
NATO military preparations are merely defensive plans aimed at repelling possible Russian aggression. NATO members are working out defence plans in case Russia decides to strike first, about which some Russian officials have been openly speaking.
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