On Tuesday 30 October, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Russia plans to carry out missile tests from 1 to 3 November off the coast of Norway, in an area where NATO is currently conducting its Trident Juncture exercise (25 October to 7 November).
“Last week, we received notification of Russian plans to conduct missile tests off the coast” of Norway, Stoltenberg explained to the press in Norway.
“Russia has significant naval forces in this area”, he said, going on to add that the country regularly carries out exercises there. “I expect Russia to behave in a professional manner”, he warned.
Although the Alliance will keep a close eye on the Russian exercises which are to unfold in international waters, it does not foresee changing the plans for the NATO exercise, the secretary general said.
Stoltenberg also said he was “very confident” that Russian forces would behave in a “responsible way and act safely”, as NATO forces do. “I do not expect that (the Russian exercise in parallel with the NATO exercise) will cause serious problems. (...) The Russians have been informed of our exercises and we shall do everything to avoid a dangerous situation”, he said.
Exercise Trident Juncture is the largest NATO exercise since the end of the Cold War. It involves 50,000 troops, 10,000 vehicles, 65 ships and 250 aircraft from 29 allied countries, from Finland and from Sweden (see EUROPE 12110).
Although the Alliance has constantly reiterated that the exercise is not against anyone in particular, Russia does not look kindly upon such troops just a few hundred kilometres from its own territory. “The exercise has been planned for a long while. It is not directed against anyone and is purely defensive”, Stoltenberg pointed out, saying that the Alliance was training in peacetime in order to ensure that its forces are able to work together in times of crisis and conflict. The secretary general explained that Russia had been invited to observe Trident Juncture.
Furthermore, a Russia/NATO Council is to meet on Wednesday. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)