MADRID, 30 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
A total of 750 US, British and Finnish soldiers have participated in the ‘Watchful Fox’ exercises that have been developed in the Nordic territory of the future NATO member state, as announced by the UK Ministry of Defense on Sunday.
British troops, stationed in NATO member Estonia, were flown by Chinook helicopters to Niinisalo in western Finland.
“The ‘Watchful Fox’ exercise has demonstrated the strength and interoperability of our Armed Forces with our American and Finnish allies and reaffirms our commitment to the defense and security of the Baltic Sea region,” explained the British Minister for the Forces. Armed, James Heappey.
British Defense Attaché in Helsinki, Stephen Boyle, has stated that “as Finland moves towards full NATO membership”, London will continue to “seek opportunities like this” to “show solidarity with Finland, learn from each other and improve the ability to work together.
Finland and neighboring Sweden applied to join the Western defense alliance after Russia’s attack on Ukraine. To ensure the military protection of both countries even before they joined, Britain signed mutual security guarantees with them in May.