British soldiers have joined up with thousands of fellow NATO forces in a huge show of strength against Russia this week.
More than 50,000 troops from 31 countries are participating in the alliance’s largest exercise since the end of the Cold War with military drills expected to be carried out close to Russia.
British military personnel have been deployed to Norway to join NATO counterparts in the Arctic to carry out training exercises and manoeuvres known as Trident Juncture 18.
Admiral Lord West has said the operations are necessary to show the Kremlin that NATO will not accept Russian expansionism in the region.
He told The Sun Online: “We have done exercises in Norway over a long period of time, because of the days of the Soviet Union we knew that one of the attacks would be to take the northern part of Norway to allow their assets in the peninsula out to sea.
“But doing a larger one now, and making people aware of it, is because Russia is doing a lot of things to destabilise the region.
“I don’t think this is like the Cold War. But there has to be some concern about some of the things Putin has done and looking out for the territory of our friends like Norway is very important.
“I think what this is doing is putting down a marker. It’s showing that NATO will look after the countries that are a part of it and won’t let them get picked off and that we have an interest in the Arctic.
“The Russians will certainly monitor it and they will be interested in exactly what is happening.
“Their reactions in print and things will be that they think this is the sort of thing that escalates tensions and ‘don’t make us laugh, this is not going to impress us at all’.
“But the reality will be that their military and intelligence agencies will look at it very closely and take note.”
Trident Juncture 18 is being headed by US Admiral James Foggo who reaffirmed the necessity to stand up to Russia.
Admiral Foggo said: “We’re here now, in the north, demonstrating our capability to bring a large force to bear on a problem that is an Article 5 problem.”
Article 5 refers to NATO’s commitment of member nations to defend each other in the face of aggressors.
The US admiral added: “We’ve brought in the equivalent of seven combat brigades over the last month.
“That’s impressive and we’ll operate here for the next couple of weeks in what is an unforgiving environment at sea and on land.”
The move is the latest show of force as NATO becomes increasingly concerned about the expansionist desires of Russian President Vladimir Putin after the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Trident Juncture is also being seen as a response to Russia’s biggest manoeuvres since 1981, Vostok-2018, which was held in the Russian Far East last month.
More than 300,000 troops were mobilised in drills close to China’s border as Russia partnered with the Chinese and Mongolian armies.
The games prompted NATO to expand their plans, which was only meant to include around 35,000 troops.
That number has increased with the addition of the giant American aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S Truman, which can carry nearly 6,000 soldiers.
The battleship became the first American aircraft carrier to enter the Artic Circle since before the Soviet Union fell in 1991.
Earlier this week, four US soldiers were injured during Trident Juncture operations in Norway in an accident involving four vehicles.
The personnel, who were assigned to the US Army’s 51st Composite Truck Company stationed in Baumholder, Germany, were in trucks delivering cargo to Kongens Gruve, around 250 miles north of the capital Oslo.
A spokesperson for the information centre where the incident happened said: “The accident occurred when three vehicles collided and fourth vehicle slid off the pavement and overturned while trying to avoid the three vehicles that had collided.”