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| 40 NATO Warships Arrive in Stockholm |
International Military - NATO member states sent about 40 warships to the Swedish capital, Stockholm, on Saturday. The arrival of the dozens of ships to take part in the BALTOPS military exercise which is expected to begin in the Baltic Sea today, Sunday (5/6/2022) local time.
Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told reporters his country and Finland would also join the exercise.
Saying that what is happening in the region can be defined as a “new cold war” or a “new iron curtain”, he noted that this is a conflict between authoritarian states and democratic Europe.
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Quoted from Daily Sabah, Hultqvist said "NATO countries are sending signals about the security of the region through the ships that gathered in Stockholm today.
NATO in an earlier statement said 14 allied nations, two NATO partner nations, more than 45 ships, more than 75 aircraft and about 7,000 personnel would participate in the 51st iteration of the main maritime-focused exercise from June 5-17.
Among the trainees were Turkey, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States (US).
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Meanwhile, as NATO partner countries, Finland and Sweden will also participate in the exercise. The two countries recently applied to join the military alliance.
This year, Sweden will host exercises BALTOPS 22, which was first started in 1972. According to the alliance BALTOPS is an annual exercise that clearly demonstrates NATO's commitment to maintaining regional peace and security by training international force teams that can respond quickly on the ground. in times of crisis.