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NATO and its allies are holding the largest military training exercises in a decade ahead of a NATO summit held in Warsaw, Poland in July. The NATO war games named Anakonda 2016 has added to continued tensions between Russia and the U.S. led NATO.
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Anakonda 2016 will run for 10 days in June across Parts of Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. The exercises will involve 24 NATO and partner nations including the U.S., UK Germany, Canada, Spain, Sweden and Turkey. This week a U.S. warship entered the Black sea as part of the exercises, much to Russia’s displeasure.
“American warships do enter the Black Sea now and then. Certainly, this does not meet with (Russia’s) approval and will undoubtedly lead to planning response measures,” the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's European Cooperation Department, was quoted by RT.
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The Russian Foreign Ministry added that a U.S. aircraft carrier was a clear attempt to show force ahead of the NATO summit. The Warsaw NATO summit is expected to approve more troops be stationed across Eastern Europe.
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Since the Ukraine Crisis and Crimea reunification in 2014, NATO broke off ties with Russia. The U.S. has had more of a presence in the region in an attempt to reassure its allies in Eastern Europe as well as to deter Russia.
In May, Russia called a U.S. missile defense site in Romania a security threat. The U.S. said the US$800 million shield will help defend europe from attacks.
Anakonda 2016 will "train, exercise and integrate the Polish national command and force structures into an allied, joint multinational environment", the US Army said according to Al-Jazeera.
Anakonda 2016 is the largest military training exercise in Eastern Europe since the Cold War. More than 30,000 troops will be taking part in the exercises.
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