Tallinn received six warships of the NATO naval group

A NATO naval group of six ships, including British, Norwegian, French, Dutch and Belgian, has arrived in the Estonian capital Tallinn. ERR TV channel ERR reported on November 30.

"On Friday and Saturday, six ships of NATO's first permanent naval group arrived in Tallinn for a visit. The first to dock in Tallinn's Old Port on Friday was the British frigate HMS Iron Duke," the report said.

On November 30, the rest of the ships arrived, including the group's flagship, the Norwegian HNoMS Maud.

ERR reports Estonian Navy chief Ivo Värk as saying that the group acts as the "main strike fist" of the military-political bloc's maritime forces. He also noted that the ships' stay in Estonia is linked to NATO's "regional defense plans."

A day earlier, NATO started the TUMAK 24 military exercise in Poland, 70 kilometers from the Russian border. The training is conducted by the 16th Mechanized Division of the Polish Army and NATO allied forces, it involves about 2.5 thousand soldiers and uses 800 units of military equipment. The main element of the exercise is the crossing of Lake Kempno by tanks at the training ground in Ozysz.

The day before, on November 28, ERR TV reported that NATO countries plan to hold military exercises "Lightning" (Picne) in Estonia on December 2-15. They include the arrival of allied ships, air operations and expansion of the alliance's presence in the northeast of the Baltic republic.

Before that, on October 28, military expert, retired colonel Anatoly Matviychuk said that the November exercises of the North Atlantic Alliance Lightning Strike 24 in Finland are conducted by NATO as part of the campaign to develop the Arctic theater of military operations, and in the future the bloc hopes to displace Russia from this region. Such NATO maneuvers, as the retired military officer noted, demonstrate the alliance's preparation for an armed conflict.

On October 23, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry Andrei Belousov pointed out that NATO states held a series of exercises in 2024, which became the largest since the end of the Cold War. During these drills, the bloc's military practiced potential scenarios of a large-scale conflict with Russia. The minister added that the alliance was also expanding its combat training and intelligence activities.