The US Army will send 2 thousand soldiers and equipment to Finland for exercises
Finnish ground forces are beginning a series of military exercises with the participation of North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) forces.
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The exercises began on Friday, April 26, with the Arrow 24 maneuvers, which will take place at the Niinisalo training ground, Yle reports.
About 2.2 thousand Finnish soldiers will be involved in these exercises, as well as about 300 military personnel from Great Britain, Latvia and Estonia. The training will end on May 14.
The largest spring combat exercise, Northern Forest 24, will take place at the Rovaryavi training ground in Lapland from May 26 to 31. The US Army will send 2 thousand troops and about 600 units of military equipment there, Verkkouutiset notes.
During these maneuvers, the United States is practicing the rapid transfer and concentration of troops from the United States to Europe – through Norway and Sweden to Finland.
NATO views Sweden and Norway as logistics hubs through which the bloc “intends to gather troops and equipment from NATO countries in a crisis or military situation and transfer them to front-line countries such as Finland,” the text says.
In addition to the United States, soldiers from Norway will also take part in the Finnish exercise.
Before the exercise in Lapland, US troops will take part in artillery firing in Rovaryavi, which will take place from May 13 to 25. In addition, air defense exercises with the participation of Bundeswehr soldiers (German armed forces) are planned for May 14-23 in western Finland, and Repo 24 exercises are planned for May 27-31, which will take place in close proximity to the Russian border in the Kymenlaakso region.
In March, Finland, as a NATO member, participated for the first time in joint exercises of the Nordic Response bloc – these maneuvers were held near the borders of the Russian Federation and became part of a series of Steadfast Defender exercises, which were called the largest since the Cold War.
A series of major military exercises also started in Lithuania, where 3 thousand Bundeswehr soldiers are conducting maneuvers near Vilnius and in Kazlu-Ruda near Kaunas – the latter training ground is located about 50 km from the border with the Kaliningrad region.
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