Russia, during military exercises, worked capture of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland

During large-scale exercises in March in north-west Russia, the military practiced actions to capture areas of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. This was reported in the report “The Gathering Storm” by Edward Lucas, an expert at the Center for European Policy Analysis.

The author of the book “The New Cold War: How the Kremlin Threatens Russia and the West” claims that Russian troops were practicing tasks to control the Finnish Aland Islands, the Swedish island of Gotland, the Danish Bornholm, as well as northern Norway.

The website of the Russian Ministry of Defense, describing the scenario of the March exercises, did not name a “conditional enemy.” During the exercises, aviation and navy were involved, units of the Ivanovo formation of the Airborne Forces were transferred to the Arctic, Pskov paratroopers entered into battle with the enemy on an unfamiliar site after landing.

“The special reconnaissance units, which carried out a parachute landing to seize a bridgehead to develop the offensive of the main forces, marched to the rear of the blocked units of the mock enemy. During the simultaneous regrouping of troops with marches and redeployment of airborne units, over 2000 paratroopers of the Pskov Airborne Forces, more than 120 units of military equipment, and up to 10 military transport aircraft participated,” so were described maneuvers on the website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

Lucas claims that around 33.000 troops participated in the exercise. In his opinion, working out such a scenario gives reason to say that the implementation in practice of such actions by the Russian Federation can in the shortest possible time destroy NATO’s reputation as the most successful military alliance in history and inflict irreparable damage to the US reputation as a guarantor of stability in Europe.

Recall that 20 March, the Russian ambassador to Denmark extremely sharply spoke about the possible accession of Copenhagen to the NATO missile defense system. According to the ambassador, this step will be perceived by Moscow as a threat, and “Danish warships will become a target for Russian nuclear missiles.”