Nordic Response 2024: newly enlarged Nato starts drill in Finland, Norway and Sweden
- For the first time, Finland will participate in drills as a Nato member nation
- Nordic neighbour Sweden is set to join the Nato alliance as its 32nd member
Nato will kick off Monday an exercise to defend its newly expanded Nordic territory when more than 20,000 soldiers from 13 nations take part in drills lasting for nearly two weeks in the northern regions of Finland, Norway and Sweden.
With over 4,000 Finnish soldiers taking part, the Norway-led Nordic Response 2024 represents the Nato newcomer’s largest ever participation in a foreign exercise, according to Finland’s military.
“For the first time, Finland will participate as a Nato member nation in exercising collective defence of the alliance’s regions,” the Finnish Defence Forces said in a statement.
Finland, which shares a 1,340km (830-mile) border with Russia, joined Nato in April 2023 in a historic move following decades of military non-alignment.
With its bid now ratified by all Nato members, neighbouring Sweden is currently finalising formalities to enter the military alliance as its 32nd member – most likely in March.
For years, the biannual Nato drill, which has been conducted in the Arctic extremes of northern Norway, was called “Cold Response”.
