NATO And Russia To Hold Simultaneous Exercises In The Baltic Sea

• 1.06.2025, 9:12

Provocations cannot be ruled out.

NATO members and Russia will hold exercises in the Baltic Sea at the same time, which, according to experts, poses a threat of provocations.

As Bild wrote, next week NATO members will begin the traditional Baltops naval exercise, which has been held in early June for 50 years. This time, however, the NATO fleet will not be training alone in the Baltic Sea.

The fact is, as the publication noted, that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has also decided to send his fleet to the exercises, and a month earlier than usual. They will involve 20 ships.

In this regard, experts warned that the fleets could get dangerously close. Senior researcher at CASSIS (a think tank at the University of Bonn), and German Navy reserve officer Moritz Bracke said: "The Russians are behaving very aggressively. What happens in the Baltic Sea always carries the risk of escalating into a more acute escalation."

Bracke believes that the Russian Federation will not attack during the exercises, but provocations are not excluded. For example, as the expert described, the Russian navy can block the way of NATO ships and stop them, and Russian airplanes can deliberately fly over the alliance's ships. "It's about testing vigilance: how quickly will NATO react?" he explained.

In addition, Bracke said, the exercises in dangerous proximity are a message from the Kremlin: "You are weak, you are vulnerable."

Director of Maritime Strategy and Security at Kiel University Johannes Peters admitted that Russia is demonstrating strength in this way:

"It is in the Baltic Sea that the Russian Federation is trying to strengthen its deterrence potential."

In addition, Peters adds, the maneuvers are used for reconnaissance, "which, however, is also legitimate.