Alta (dpa) – NATO partners in northern Europe are carrying out a major exercise to train for an attack on alliance territory. Around 1500 German service personnel are taking part in the Nordic Response 2024 exercises in the city of Alta in northern Norway, according to a statement from the Bundeswehr. According to the Norwegian military, the exercises involve 20,000 personnel from 13 NATO members. These include Finland and Sweden, which decided to join the alliance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius travelled to Alta for the start of the active element of the manoeuvres. The previous day, Pistorius had visited a Norwegian military base on the border with Russia, where he offered increased support from the Bundeswehr in the far north, even during times when the world’s gaze is mainly directed towards Ukraine and the Middle East, he said. “It really is clear that here in the Arctic, the Norwegian Sea, is the critical area, you could say,” Pistorius said at the Norwegian border station in Pasvik. He stressed that Russia had assembled a significant part of its military power in the north.
