On Thursday (9/6/2022), dozens of Russian ships took part in military exercises in the strategic Baltic Sea after Sweden and Finland recently announced offers to join NATO.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the ships of its Baltic fleet would carry out training tasks for the defense of sea lanes and fleet bases.
It said 60 ships and 40 aircraft were taking part in the maneuver which will also take place on land at a training ground in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
The naval drills come amid rising tensions between Moscow and NATO, after Sweden and Finland made their bids to join the US-led alliance following the start of Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.
If their membership — currently blocked by Turkey — is approved, Russia will become the only non-NATO nation in the Baltic Sea.
In a sign of support for Finland and Sweden's NATO membership, US Chief of Staff General Mark Milley was in Stockholm on Saturday aboard the USS Kearsage, making it the largest US warship ever to dock in Stockholm.
His visit comes as NATO conducts an annual naval exercise in the Baltic Sea called "Baltop 22" which will continue until June 17.
Previously reported, citing Reuters, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West that Russia would respond if NATO began strengthening the military infrastructure of Sweden and Finland.
Putin has repeatedly cited the expansion of the post-Soviet NATO alliance eastward towards the Russian border as the reason for the Ukraine conflict.
Speaking to leaders of a Russian-dominated military alliance of ex-Soviet countries, Putin said the expansion of NATO was being used by the United States in an "aggressive" way to exacerbate the already difficult global security situation.
Russia, Putin said, has no problems with Finland or Sweden, so there is no direct threat of expanding NATO to include those countries.
"But the expansion of military infrastructure to this region will certainly provoke our response," Putin told the leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which includes Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
"What (response) it is - we will see what threats are created for us. Problems are created for no reason at all. We will react accordingly," Putin said at the Grand Kremlin Palace.
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