Large-scale military exercises of NATO Defender Europe - 2020, which will be held in Eastern Europe near the western borders of Russia, will not be able to affect the foreign policy of Moscow. This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.

“A direct confirmation was the statement by US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper at a March 5 briefing that the goal of Defender Europe 2020 is the desire to send some signal to Russia to force its“ bad behavior ”to change. What it is, the head of the Pentagon did not explain, and could not. It’s obvious that our country is not threatening anyone, and it’s NATO that collects the shock fist at the Russian border, ”the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs quoted her as saying.

Zakharova pointed out the fact that for the participation of maneuvers the United States will transfer over 20 thousand of its military personnel and a lot of equipment. The total number of participants in the maneuvers will be about 40 thousand. Zakharova noted that these exercises will become "the largest since the end of the Cold War."

Maneuvers will take place in April-May of this year.

“The decision to hold such large-scale maneuvers at a time when Russia will celebrate the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War is also noteworthy. It was unleashed by Nazi Germany just under the pretext of groundless accusations against the USSR. Today, similar theses are used in Washington, trying to exert pressure on Russia, ”the representative of the Foreign Ministry stated.

Zakharova warned that Russia's foreign policy position would remain unchanged. However, the aggressive approach of the North Atlantic Alliance will be taken into account by Moscow in further military construction, she emphasized.

“Of course, the aggressive intentions of the US and NATO will be taken into account in our own military construction. We recommend that NATO think about the consequences of their aggressive actions, which only increase international tension, ”Zakharova concluded.

Defender Europe - 2020

As they say on the NATO portal dedicated to upcoming maneuvers, 17 NATO member countries and their partners will take part in them. In particular, we are talking about the military from Germany, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Georgia.

The exercises themselves will last from April 20 to May 20, but the transfer of troops has been going on since February and will end only in July. It is noted that the deployment of US troops in Europe will be the largest in the last 25 years.

The North Atlantic Alliance claims that these maneuvers are aimed at increasing the block’s ability to deploy and coordinate actions against “any enemy”.

NATO uses exercises to consolidate the alliance and support funding for military programs, said HSE Associate Professor Alexander Domrin.

“There is no unity and everyone understands this,” he told RT. - Naturally, no one is going to fight with Russia. There are no real threats from Russia, but money needs to be collected and money needs to be paid, therefore this “Russian threat” needs to be created.

Cross-border exercises

It is worth noting that a few days earlier, on March 2, NATO exercises in Latvia and Norway started.

  • © Torbjørn Kjosvold / forsvaret.no

So, in the Baltic republic began the maneuvers “Crystal Arrow - 2020”. They will go until March 13, and about 2.5 thousand troops from Italy, Canada, Poland, Spain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Latvia, Albania, Slovakia, Montenegro and Slovenia take part in them.

And in Norway, maneuvers are called Cold Response. They are much larger than Latvian ones - in total about 15 thousand military men from the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Norway and Finland take part in them.

At the end of February, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, at a meeting with French counterpart Francois Lekuentrom, said that Moscow was concerned about NATO activity at the Russian borders.

“There are a number of issues of serious concern. First of all, this is an increase in NATO military activity at the Russian borders. The exercises planned for the near future are conducted on the basis of anti-Russian scenarios involving the development of offensive operations, ”he said.

Gerasimov stated that due to the lack of dialogue on the military line, such maneuvers are "clearly provocative in nature."

However, NATO is not interested in dialogue with Russia, said Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies. According to him, the North Atlantic Alliance intends to build relations with Russia and China from a position of strength.

“NATO will never prefer dialogue unless there is a balance of power. NATO will always strive for dominance, whether in relations with Russia, with China or someone else, ”he told RT.