On Monday, March 4, a large-scale military exercise of NATO countries called Nordic Response 24 begins in the north of Finland, Sweden, and Norway. This was reported by the Finnish publication Yle.

It is noted that the military exercises are conducted under the leadership of Norway.

The publication reports that for Finland, this is the first time that the country participates in NATO joint defense exercises as a member of the defense alliance.

Nordic Response is a large-scale military exercise on land, sea and air. About 20,000 military personnel from 14 countries will take part in the exercise. Finland will be represented by about 4,100 servicemen.

As a reminder, NATO's largest exercise in decades, Steadfast Defender, started on January 24. It will last until the end of spring 2024.

The exercise scenario is a Russian attack on the territory of the Alliance, which leads to the activation of Article 5 of the NATO Treaty. It regulates the obligation to provide assistance in the bloc and states that an armed attack on one or more allies is considered an attack on all.