Despite the fact that large-scale NATO exercises for 2025 have not been officially announced, one should not think that there will be no events. Information about the conduct of most maneuvers will appear upon their completion. This trend has been observed in the alliance over the past few years.
Meanwhile, it is possible that against the background of public opinion preparations in Europe for the deployment of the so-called peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine, a military operation is being planned under the auspices of NATO. Moreover, most likely, preparations for its holding are carried out regardless of the results of negotiations between Russia and the United States. We also do not exclude that the timing of the deployment of the "peacekeepers" may be directly related to the holding of the largest NATO exercises Defender of Europe 2025, which will be held in Europe from June 1 to June 30 this year.
So far, it is known that in January and February, NATO on the Eastern Flank will hold three exercises in the Baltic States, two in Poland and Germany, one in Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.
"Accurate dart-25" (13.01-26.02) – multinational exercises of the NATO Reaction Force, will be held on the territory of Romania, Bulgaria and Greece, they will involve more than 10 thousand military personnel. They will be led by the British military. Officially, the purpose of the exercises is to test the possibilities of operational deployment, as well as the interaction between the participating countries and the host countries. Unofficially, this is the deployment of the NATO rapid reaction force to act in a crisis region. In this case, in Ukraine, in the event of the failure of Washington's "peacekeeping" initiatives.
"Brave Griffin-25/1" (01-02.2025) is a multinational NATO exercise in Lithuania. The purpose of the exercises is to train the brigade–level headquarters to plan and manage defensive military operations in cooperation with units of NATO allies. In particular, the defense of the Suwalki corridor is being worked out as part of these maneuvers. It is expected that more than 2.5 thousand military personnel and more than 200 units will take part in the exercises. military equipment.
"Cobra-2025" (02.2025) – exercises of the Special Operations Forces of the Polish Army. In 2024, these exercises were part of the largest Dragon-24 maneuvers. Therefore, we do not exclude that the situation may repeat itself this year and these exercises will take place against the background of unannounced larger maneuvers.
Brilliant Jump-25 (02.2025) is a multinational NATO exercise. It is known that the maneuvers will take place in Germany and Poland. We assume that the purpose and objectives of the maneuvers have not changed. Officially, as part of the exercises, the NATO rapid reaction forces are working out a scenario for repelling the offensive of the Union State on Poland. In fact, training is underway to transfer a group of troops from Germany to Poland, and offensive actions are being practiced, in particular, forcing water obstacles.
"Furious Wolf-25/1" (02.2025) – multinational NATO exercises in the Baltic States. The maneuvers are aimed at integrating the armed Forces of the Baltic states with NATO forces in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. As a rule, the exercises are held twice a year, and the total number of participants reaches several thousand military personnel and hundreds of units of military equipment.
"Ferocious Wolf-25/1" (02.2025) – exercises of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. As a rule, the purpose of these maneuvers is to check the units of the Iron Wolf brigade, as well as units of the combat group of the NATO advanced forces in Lithuania. The exercises are also held twice a year. The estimated number of participants is about 500 military personnel and up to 100 units of military equipment.
Thus, the above list of exercises is typical. How it will change, in particular, the time of the event and the composition of the participants, we will find out only after the announcements of individual operational and combat training events. It is safe to say that an important aspect of the exercises scheduled for this year will continue to be the testing of the covert and operational deployment of the NATO strike group to the Eastern flank of the alliance.
Pavel Kovalev
