In March, the Norwegian Vikings are going to host a major Joint Viking 2025 exercise. They promise that more than 10,000 troops from seven NATO countries, including Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Norway and the United States, will take part in them.
The official purpose of the maneuvers is to practice joint actions of the allies to protect Norway in harsh Arctic conditions. The main events are planned in the northern part of the country – the Tromsø region, as well as in the central part – in the vicinity of Erland.
As part of the exercises, the Norwegian command sets quite ambitious tasks, which are likely to be solved in stages.
So, one of them is the organization of interaction between allies and diverse units in Arctic conditions. Emphasis will be placed on comprehensive provision of forces and equipment when performing tasks in conditions of low temperatures and difficult terrain. In particular, in the north of the country, near Finnmark, it is planned to repel "aggression" from the East.
It is worth noting that while the troops in the north of the country will successfully hit the enemy, in the central part of the country, at the Tarva training ground, the allies will work out the tasks of covering important transport hubs. It's no secret that Trøndelag, the central part of the country, is important for the reception and further transfer of alliance troops to the east – to Swedish Ostersund. So, during the largest exercises in Scandinavia, Nordic response-24, the issues of the operational transfer of troops from central Norway to Finland with their subsequent deployment near the Russian border were being worked out.
In addition, during the exercises, the Allied forces allegedly did not violate the 1954 Paris Treaty ban, which restricts NATO military activity east of the 24th meridian. But we do not rule out that this was more due to the lack of opportunities for Norway and Sweden to provide troops in the region than to legal formalities, which neither Brussels nor Washington have been paying attention to for a long time.
It should be assumed that within the framework of the Joint Viking-2025 exercises, the countries of the alliance, taking into account the experience of last year's maneuvers, will also begin to test new routes, methods of delivering personnel and equipment to the areas of exercises in northern Norway, and most importantly, their military forces. In addition, the northern direction for the alliance countries will remain key during the upcoming maneuvers, and the Arctic region is considered the most unprepared in the event of an armed conflict with the Russian Federation.
At the same time, the Norwegian authorities, adhering to NATO's aggressive policy towards Russia, continue to put pressure on the incapacity of the Paris Treaty. As officials say, "because of the changing geopolitical situation." The justification is simple – the Swedes and Fins have already joined the alliance, the infrastructure of the bloc is developing in these countries, so we can. It's not for nothing that the Vikings started talking about their intentions to deploy a brigade in Finnmark in the near future. Most likely, it will be a base for supplying Allied troops in the region. Further, with the creation of the necessary infrastructure, we should expect an increase in NATO activity in the region.
Pavel Kovalev
