Soldiers participate in a NATO exercise (Photo: AFP).
"For several months, a force of 90,000 troops from 31 NATO member states, along with Sweden, will be actively operating near Russia's borders in the area from Norway to Romania. This step is deliberately aimed at escalating tensions, increasing the risk of military incidents and ultimately leading to catastrophic consequences for Europe," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a press conference on January 27.
According to Ms Zakharova, the NATO exercise is "provocative in nature". She affirmed that Russia "has no plans to attack NATO countries", despite concerns that the global conflict will escalate if Russia wins the military campaign in Ukraine.
Earlier this week, NATO launched a military exercise called Steadfast Defender 2024. The exercise will last until May and will involve about 90,000 troops training in several European countries, including Poland, Russia's neighbor.
Steadfast Defender 2024 is NATO's largest military exercise since the Cold War. It has more than doubled in size since it was announced last year and is explicitly designed to prepare for a conflict scenario with Russia.
The aim of the exercise is to "test and refine NATO's defence plans to enhance Europe's defence capabilities against a peer adversary", according to a statement from NATO.
Although Russia was not named in the exercise announcement, NATO made it clear in its 2022 Strategic Concept, a document that identifies the security challenges facing the military bloc, that "Russia poses the most significant and direct threat to the security of its allies."
Sweden and its neighbor Finland have applied to join NATO after Russia launched a military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022. Finland joined NATO in April last year, while Sweden is also finalizing its bid to join the bloc.
Admiral Rob Bauer, chairman of NATO's military committee, recently warned the US-led military bloc that it must prepare for a large-scale conflict with Russia within the next 20 years, a conflict that would require the mobilization of large numbers of civilians.
"The chairman of the (NATO) military committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, said that the alliance is preparing for a conflict with Russia. Similar comments have been heard many times from the leaders of NATO countries," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova said at a press briefing.
“In this way, the alliance is trying to justify its existence in the eyes of millions of Europeans and Americans, as well as its agenda of containing Russia, justifying the increase in military spending, and, of course, in some cases, distracting public opinion and attention from the failures in the hybrid war (which NATO is waging) under the cover of the Kiev authorities against our country,” Zakharova said.
Earlier this week, commenting on the possibility of a direct conflict between NATO and Russia, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: "We do not see any direct or imminent threat to any NATO ally."
However, he said, NATO was still "closely monitoring what Russia does" and had increased "vigilance and presence in the eastern part of the alliance" to be able to counter any moves by Moscow.
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