Russia has begun major war games in the Baltic in a bid to “counter” NATO ’s largest-ever exercise testing air and missile defence systems - with terrifying footage even showing amphibious soldiers.
The Western alliance’s show of force was concentrating on defending Poland plus ex-Soviet states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the Ramstein Legacy drill.
Vladimir Putin has hit back, sending 60 surface warships and support vessels to sea, along with 40 aircraft and helicopters and up to 2,000 units of weapons, military and special equipment, said the Baltic Fleet.
The rival war games come amid the hot conflict in Ukraine, where tens of thousands of lives have been lost on both sides following Putin’s invasion of his neighbouring state.
“The planned exercises of the Russian Baltic Fleet are taking place against the background of manoeuvres of naval forces of NATO countries,” reported TASS.
The Russian drills involve an invasion from the sea, according to reports.
The Yevgeny Kocheshkov and Mordovia small amphibious hovercraft took part in a drill that involved artillery fire and the landing of troops on the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which borders NATO states Poland and Lithuania.
Gun-toting military divers were also seen in images released by the fleet firing their guns underwater.
"As part of the amphibious landing, marines practised breaking through enemy anti-landing defences from the sea,” said the Baltic Fleet.
The Russian drills are intended to “increase the level of readiness and capability of the military”, and are led by the fleet’s commander Vice-Admiral Viktor Liina.
“Prior to its start, a set of special exercises on types of all-round support were conducted and the issues of bringing the fleet's forces and troops to the highest levels of combat readiness were worked out,” reported TASS.
Russia was also staging a marine landing competition in preparation for International army games.
Some 3,000 NATO troops from 17 nations, including Britain, were engaged in drills which involve aircraft, missile defence systems and electronic warfare systems.
50 fighter jets or other aircraft have flown in from bases across Europe, while 17 surface-based air and missile defence systems were being tested in a show of force.
Among the British involvement were 100 troops from the 7th Air Defence Group at Amari air base, Estonia, and Ustka, Poland.
General Jeffrey Harrigian, commander of Allied Air Command, was quoted saying: “Given the current security situation following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, large-scale training exercises like this are now more important to NATO than ever.”
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warned in Iceland that Putin did not see former Soviet republics Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as countries in their own right and would have no reservations breaching borders.
He said: “Whether he would be silly or foolish enough to do that in an overt manner with a cruise missile remains to be seen but he would be dealing with Nato.”
He warned that Russia was behaving like Nazi Germany in conducting mass executions and setting up filtration camps.
