ROVANIEMI, Finland: Thousands of NATO soldiers are taking part in large-scale artillery exercises in Finland’s Arctic this month, seen by some as a signal to neighbouring Russia over its war on Ukraine.
Sounds of cannon fire and rocket artillery echo across the snowy, hilly Lapland landscape as some 3,600 soldiers from the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France and other NATO members conduct live fire drills throughout November.
They are part of NATO’s largest artillery exercise ever held in Europe, dubbed Dynamic Front 25, which also includes drills in Estonia, Germany, Romania and Poland involving a total of around 5,000 soldiers.
Joel Linnainmaki, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, said the massive exercises should be interpreted as a message to Russia, with which Finland shares a 1,340km border.
“These NATO exercises are increasingly intended to show other countries, in this case especially Russia of course, that the alliance is united and is capable of defending its members,” he said.
The exercises are the first large-scale manoeuvres held in Finland since the Nordic country joined NATO last year, when it dropped decades of military non-alignment following Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The move angered Moscow, which has long opposed any expansion of NATO.
Colonel Janne Makitalo, director of the Dynamic Front 25 exercise in Finland, said the main goal was to train and develop inter-operability within the alliance’s artillery units, and prepare troops for harsh Arctic conditions, now that Norway, Sweden and Finland are all NATO members.
“Of course this sends a message that we are able to train together and we are developing our assets,” he told reporters.
“Artillery is basically the king and queen of the battlefield, as we have seen from experience of combat in Ukraine,” Makitalo said.
He dismissed the notion that NATO could provoke Moscow by flexing its military might in Russia’s backyard.
“It is not any sort of show of force,” he insisted.
That said, Finland joining NATO brought “280,000 soldiers to NATO’s northern flank”, he said.
