US, NATO missile defense exercise kicks off in Atlantic amid Russian show of force
By
ALISON BATH
STARS AND STRIPES • May
8, 2023
The USS Roosevelt, left, and Spanish navy frigate
Cristobol Colon transit the Atlantic Ocean during exercise Formidable Shield in
2021. This year, the exercise includes 13 allied and partner nations, notably
Finland, the newest member of NATO. (Nathan T. Beard/U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — Russia’s military was making its
presence felt in international waters near northern Europe as the U.S. and its
NATO allies prepared for a missile defense exercise that began
Monday in the North Atlantic.
Formidable Shield includes live-fire events
against subsonic, supersonic and ballistic missiles, U.S. Naval Forces
Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet said in a statement Saturday. It runs through May
26, according to the statement.
New NATO member Finland is a notable participant
in the exercise, which has drawn 13 allied and partner nations. The accession
of Finland, which has an 800-mile-long border with Russia, was a direct result
of the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Italian navy frigate Antonio Marceglia, left,
Dutch navy frigate De Zeven Provincien, USS Roosevelt and Danish frigate Iver
Huitfeldt take part in exercises during Formidable Shield 2021. The biennial
missile defense exercise is conducted by Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO
on behalf of U.S. 6th Fleet. (Nathan T. Beard/U.S. Navy)
On Friday, the Russian intelligence collection
vessel Yuriy Ivanov was spotted leaving the Mediterranean Sea through the
Strait of Gibraltar.
That departure was the latest in a series
involving ships assigned to Moscow’s Mediterranean task force in recent weeks,
including the frigate Admiral Grigorovich.It also dovetails with the arrival of
at least seven Russian ships operating last week in the North Sea near Norway,
open-source intelligence analysts on Twitter recently noted.
Those ships included the Grigorovich,
four corvettes, an oiler and a tugboat, according to a tweet Thursday by
analyst H. I. Sutton on his account @CovertShores.
The Dutch navy ship Tromp, shown in an undated
photo shared on Facebook by U.S. 6th Fleet, arrives in a North Atlantic port in
Norway for exercise Formidable Shield. The exercise began May 8, 2023, and
includes a series of live-fire events against subsonic, supersonic and
ballistic missiles, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet said. (U.S.
Navy/Facebook)
Analysts reported on Twitter on Monday afternoon
that some Russian ships, including the Grigorovich, had left the North Sea.
The arrival of the Russian ships, along with
allied vessels, was to be anticipated over the next few weeks, the Norwegian
armed forces said Thursday on its official Twitter account, @Forsvaret_no.
The destroyer "Vice Admiral Kulakov" is one of several Russian navy vessels now in the North Sea. Photo: Norwegian Armed Forces
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