The “Standing Defender” military exercise – the largest war simulation organized by NATO since the end of the Cold War – could have “tragic consequences for Europe,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned on Friday.

• “Within several months, 90,000 military personnel from 31 NATO member states, as well as Sweden, will actively operate near the Russian borders in the territory that stretches from Norway to Romania,” Zakharova said at a press conference, EFE agency writes, Agerpres reports.

She warned that “this behavior of NATO not only increases the risk of military incidents, but can also have tragic consequences for Europe.”

At the same time, Zakharova stated that Russia “does not intend to attack NATO countries.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania, on Thursday, shortly after NATO launched the Enduring Defender 2024 military exercise program, which will run until May mostly in countries on the alliance’s eastern flank.

The spokesman for the Russian president, Dmytro Peskov, denied that the visit was intended to send a “message” to NATO. According to him, all measures were taken to ensure the safety of the head of the Kremlin during the flight to the exclave cut off from the rest of Russian territory, but he did not disclose the route that Putin’s plane was flying.

NATO’s largest military exercise since the Cold War

The Steadfast Defender military exercise, the largest war simulation organized by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since the end of the Cold War, began on Wednesday in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, with the USS Gunston Hall, a US amphibious assault ship, leaving port to cross the Atlantic to Europe, announced a military alliance.

According to NATO, a Canadian ship will arrive behind the USS Gunston Hall by the end of the month.

The Steadfast Defender 24 exercise, which will involve up to 90,000 soldiers from both sides of the Atlantic, is designed, among other things, to test the Alliance’s ability to quickly mobilize and transport American troops to “strengthen the defense of Europe.” according to NATO’s statement.

The maneuvers, which will last several months until May, from the Atlantic to NATO’s eastern flank, will take the form of a war scenario against an “adversary of comparable size,” according to the alliance’s terminology, which refers to , without naming it. , to Russia, whose large-scale offensive in Ukraine began almost two years ago.

More than 50 ships, from aircraft carriers to destroyers, as well as more than 80 fighter jets, helicopters and drones and at least 1,100 combat vehicles, including 133 tanks and 533 infantry fighting vehicles, will take part in the exercise. Reuters reports. .

The exercise will be an opportunity to rehearse NATO’s implementation of regional plans, the first defense plans the alliance has drawn up in decades, detailing how it will respond to a Russian attack.

Although NATO does not directly mention Russia, its main strategic document identifies Russia as the most significant and direct threat to the security of NATO members.

The exercise comes at a critical moment after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked the bloodiest war on European soil in more than 70 years.

The scale of NATO’s Steadfast Defender 2024 exercise marks the alliance’s “irreversible return” to Cold War-era maneuvers, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleksandr Hrushko told the state news agency RIA in a statement published on Sunday.