The largest Baltops naval exercises this year will start off the coast of Poland

On June 1, Polish Schezin began international naval exercises of NATO Baltic Operations (Baltops). These are the largest maneuvers that are held on the Baltic Sea, the Poland Ministry of Defense reports on the Facebook page.

50 warships, more than 50 aircraft and helicopters, as well as more than 4 thousand military personnel of 14 countries take part in the exercises. In addition to Poland, the military from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, Norway, Great Britain, Sweden and the United States participate.

The main phase of the exercises will begin on Monday, June 5, reports the Polish agency PAP . The military from different countries will practice joint operations in the Baltic Sea. The culmination of the exercises will be an operation in the area of ​​the Polish city of the mouth, writes Polska Zbrojna .

The maneuvers will last until June 18 and end in German keel. The purpose of the exercises is a demonstration of NATO’s military presence in the Baltic Sea.

Baltops maneuvers have been held since 1971. Last year, 17 countries took part in them - Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Great Britain, the USA, as well as Finland and Sweden, the NATO website reported. Then the maneuvers took place in the southern part of the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden, Denmark and Poland.

In parallel in Poland, Anakonda military exercises were held - the largest of those that have passed in the country over the past 25 years. They were attended by 31 thousand military personnel from national contingents more than half of NATO members.

Military maneuvers were held on the eve of the July Summit of NATO in Warsaw. In Moscow, the exercises were convicted , saying that they did not contribute to the establishment of an atmosphere of trust in relations between Russia and the West.