NATO exercises will be held in Estonia

NATO exercises will be held in Estonia

TALLINN (TASS): The annual Winter Camp exercises with the participation of the NATO battle group stationed in Estonia will be held in the republic from January 29 to February 6. Almost 1.4 thousand soldiers will be involved in the maneuvers. This was reported on Thursday by the BNS agency with reference to the Main Headquarters of the country’s Defense Forces.
The exercises are aimed at testing the preparation of infantry and mechanized units for combat operations in winter conditions. Nearly 1,400 soldiers from the First Infantry Brigade of the Defense Forces, as well as British and French troops from the NATO battle group in Estonia, will take part in the maneuvers. Armored vehicles, infantry, headquarters and engineering units will be involved in the exercises.
“Exercising against a simulated enemy on difficult terrain in winter conditions is a great opportunity to gain invaluable experience. Undoubtedly, the soldiers and commanders of units from Great Britain, France and Estonia will acquire useful skills. They will have to establish interaction between infantry and equipment, as well as find the most effective solutions for offensive and defensive tasks,” said the commander of the First Infantry Brig-ade of the Defense Forces, Colonel Andrus Merilo.
“Since our arrival in Estonia in September last year, we have made great efforts to improve the combat readiness of the unit and achieve coherence with the allies. We have completed preliminary preparations for operations in winter conditions and are now ready to demonstrate significant success in this field during the joint exercise of the First Infantry Brigade Winter Camp,” said Lieute-nant Colonel Simon Worth, commander of the NATO battle group in Estonia.
At the first stage of the maneuvers, the allies will conduct live firing, training of anti-tank crews, exercises in patrolling the area and solving engineering problems. Then they will have to confront a mock enemy represented by the Scout Battalion of the Defense Forces and units of the volunteer paramilitary formation of the Defense League in a series of defensive and offensive battles. This year’s Winter Camp maneuver scenario involves daily coordination between ground and air forces.
At the NATO summit in Warsaw in 2016, it was decided to deploy the alliance’s multinational battalions in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland. The Estonian battalion is under the command of Great Britain.

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