NATO kicks-off large scale military drills in Poland
More than 20 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and partner countries have begun a large-scale military exercise in Poland as part of attempts by the military alliance to flex its muscle against Russia in Eastern Europe.
Exercise Anakonda 2016 began on Monday with 30,000 troops backed by a large number of vehicles, aircraft and ships. The maneuvers would last for 10 days.
The war games will see large contingent of troops involved in operations such as night-time helicopter assaults and the dropping of paratroopers to build a temporary bridge over Vistula River.
The high-profile drills come one month before NATO members hold a summit in Warsaw to approve more troops to be stationed in Eastern Europe.
The army of the United States, which will provide the largest foreign contingent to the exercise with around 14,000 troops, said the goal of Anakonda 2016 is to “train, exercise and integrate the Polish national command and force structures into an allied, joint multi-national environment.”
Sweden and Finland, two major non-NATO countries, are also taking part in the exercise.
The massive exercise is expected to anger Russia, which has already been at odds with the West over the crisis in Ukraine.
Poland, which itself joined NATO in 1999, has repeatedly called for a more active presence of the military alliance on its soil to counter what it calls a rising Russian threat. Polish officials have openly criticized Moscow for its alleged involvement in neighboring Ukraine.
NATO has justified Anakonda 2016 and other military drills, saying they constitute a responses to Russia's incorporation of Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014 and Moscow's alleged support for militants in eastern Ukraine.
The alliance has also criticized similar maneuvers by Russia.
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