Russian military experts are monitoring the progress of NATO exercises Baltops-2020, which are held in the Baltic Sea, the Russian National Defense Management Center said.

“The forces and means of the Baltic Fleet are monitoring the US and European naval exercises Baltops-2020, conducted ... in the southern and central parts of the Baltic Sea,” the statement said.

According to the press service of the North Atlantic Alliance, the exercises launched on June 7 are held to exchange experience and increase the level of interaction between NATO members.

“Baltops exercises allow NATO members and partner countries to collaborate and share best practices to optimize real-world operations,” said Vice Admiral Lisa Franchetti, commander of the strike and support forces of the Allied Navy, as well as the Sixth Fleet of the United States Navy.

Maneuvers will consist of several stages. First, the military will work out “Improved Mission Performance” (CET) and “Integration of Forces” (FIT), and then the final tactical stage of the exercises (TACEX) will begin.

“In the first six days (CET / FIT stage), ships and aircraft will work out common tactics, equipment and procedures according to a pre-compiled plan of events, which will allow them to confidently carry out joint operations as a single force. The culmination of the exercises will be the TACEX stage, during which forces and means will switch to the “free play” mode, and the commanders will have more freedom to work out their own tactical programs, ”the NATO press service explained.

The alliance also said that in 2020, exercises for the first time will be controlled from the new joint operational center of the Striking Forces and NATO Support Forces in Lisbon.

Units of 17 alliance member states, including the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, Norway and the Baltic countries, as well as the military of two NATO partners, Finland and Sweden, take part in the exercises.

Sea maneuvers

Back in mid-April, NATO noted that they could change the format of exercises in the Baltic Sea or even cancel them because of the coronavirus pandemic. Such a statement, in particular, was made by the head of the European Command of the US Armed Forces, General Tod Walters. 

As follows from the statement of the alliance published in connection with the start of the exercises, the Baltops-2020 format has indeed been revised. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to limit itself to naval maneuvers only; the land part of the exercises was canceled. Thus, the message says, participants in the maneuvers will be able to complete the necessary tasks without jeopardizing each other's health.

“Although this year’s exercises will take place entirely at sea, the Baltops 2020 will demonstrate our strong commitment to regional security and increase the flexibility of our combined naval forces for joint operations in all circumstances,” Franchetti said.

Compared to last year’s exercises, the number of forces and means involved was significantly reduced. So, if in 2019 50 ships, 40 aircraft and about 8.6 thousand military personnel took part in maneuvers, in 2020 only 3 thousand people and 28 aircraft and ships were involved in training operations.

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Back to basics

Baltops maneuvers have been held annually since 1972 under the auspices of the US Navy European Command. Initially, they were intended solely to work out the interaction between the countries - members of NATO, but since 1993 the states of the former socialist camp, including Russia, began to take part in them.

In the years when units of the Russian Federation took part in Baltops, they were usually trained to combat the terrorist threat and ensure peaceful shipping. In general, the nature of the maneuvers was quite peaceful, analysts say.

The situation changed after a sharp aggravation in relations between Russia and the West against the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis. Since 2015, this format of cooperation between Moscow and NATO has been curtailed, and the exercises themselves began to concentrate not on combating the common terrorist threat for everyone, but on confronting Russia, analysts say.

According to experts, this shift was noticeable both in the changed composition of equipment involved in the maneuvers and in the proximity of NATO training operations to the Kaliningrad region. However, according to the chief editor of Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine Viktor Murakhovsky, Russia has not lost anything from the fact that it has ceased to participate in Balticops.

“Nothing wrong with that. Yes, we gained experience of interaction with ships of NATO countries. But we compensated for this loss: for example, in 2017, Chinese ships participated in joint exercises with the Baltic Fleet in the Baltic Sea. I think it was a good hint to our opponents from NATO, ”he said in an interview with RT.

At the same time, Murakhovsky believes that in the future it would be possible to return to a joint format of exercises.

“Joint maneuvers increase overall security, establish cooperation in the divergence of ships and vessels in international waters. Today, this problem is quite urgent. We see Americans regularly making dangerous maneuvers near foreign ships, which is heating up the situation in different parts of the world. Any training with the ships is always useful, this would serve as a de-escalation. But the West is not interested in this, ”the analyst believes.

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In turn, an expert from the Association of Military Political Scientists Andrei Koshkin expressed the view that Moscow could consider returning to such exercises, but on an equal basis.

“We are ready to participate, but NATO does not want such cooperation. After all, we invited them to take part in other formats that increase the level of mutual trust. For example, they offered to join our Tank Biathlon, but they refused, ”the source said.

“We feel confident in our abilities”

Russia is not mentioned in the statement of the North Atlantic Alliance regarding the launch of the Baltops-2020 exercises, however, experts interviewed by RT are convinced that these maneuvers are aimed at Moscow.

“NATO consider Russia its main adversary. They regularly conduct exercises near the borders of the Russian Federation, in the Black, Baltic, and Barents Seas. Baltops-2020 in scope is one of the largest exercises, which cover a significant part of the Baltic Sea, the coast of the NATO countries, ”Murakhovsky said.

According to him, the need to conduct military exercises in such a volume in the West is often motivated by the “Russian threat”.

“NATO plans to have 30 ships as part of the rapid reaction force. They must be ready to reflect the notorious "aggression of Russia." They regularly ignore our regular assurances that we have no aggressive intentions: they need to absorb budget funds and demonstrate their need for military security in European countries, ”Murakhovsky said.

According to analysts, Russia is closely monitoring the activities of the NATO military near its borders and is ready to stop any possible provocations from the alliance.

“We are forced to monitor the situation and adequately compensate for such threats. This is not to say that such exercises provide peace: they rather increase nervousness in international relations and destabilize the situation. The Russian military controls what is happening with the help of space intelligence and air defense systems. We intercept everyone who approaches our air and sea borders, ”Andrei Koshkin explained.

He noted that Russia has consistently advocated the normalization of relations with the West, but the settlement of contentious issues requires the desire of both parties, and NATO, mainly because of the US position, does not strive for this.

“We feel confident in our abilities and are ready to negotiate, conduct joint exercises, seek common ground to stabilize the situation in the world. But in the West there is no oncoming traffic, ”Koshkin concluded.