As the Ukrainian war and Russia become more unpredictable, NATO is expected to conduct the biggest military exercises in Europe since the end of the Cold War.

This week, the Financial Times reported that “NATO is preparing its biggest live joint command exercise since the Cold War next year, assembling more than 40,000 troops to practice how the alliance would attempt to repel Russian aggression against one of its members.”

The Steadfast Defender exercise is reportedly part of NATO’s operational transition from crisis response to combat operations in the wake of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

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According to NATO officials, commencing in Spring of 2024, the exercise is also expected to involve between 500 and 700 air combat missions and more than 50 ships. The purpose of this drill is based upon a coalition led by Russia named OCCASUS – a fictitious eastern alliance.

German Air Force Chief Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz said that the exercise was not a response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, but an initial proposal from Germany in 2018 and planned out in subsequent years.

“We are a defensive alliance, and in the event of an attack, we are prepared to defend NATO territory, and we simply have to demonstrate this,” he told the public broadcaster RBB on Monday.

A Politico report explained that NATO has steadily increased its control of the Baltic Sea — a crucial maritime gateway for the Russian fleet which has bases near St. Petersburg and in the heavily militarized Kaliningrad exclave.”

The news source also noted: “During the Cold War, only Denmark and Germany at the far western edge of the Baltic were in the alliance. Poland joining NATO in 1999 and the three Baltic republics in 2004 put most of the sea’s southern shore under alliance control.”

Watch: Patrick Bet-David discusses NATO: A peacekeeping alliance? Or, the reason we’re edging closer to WW3?

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