The US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) announced, on Friday, the launch of large-scale naval exercises for NATO in the Mediterranean, on Monday, in which the US aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman will participate, amid tensions with Russia, which also announced naval exercises in same time.
The training of “Neptune Strike 22” will continue until February 4th and aims to demonstrate the ability of OTAN Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the formation of an advanced naval strike force was “for the purposes of deterrence and defense of the Alliance.”
Kirby emphasized that the exercises had been planned since 2020 and had nothing to do with current tensions Ukraine.
“The exercises are not designed to counter the kind of scenarios that could happen across Ukraine,” he said.
For its part, Russia announced large-scale naval exercises Thursday. More than 140 warships and about 10,000 soldiers will participate in military exercises in January and February in Atlantic, the arctic, the security and the Mediterranean.
Kirby acknowledged that the tense situation with Russia had sparked discussions about the scale of the naval exercises, but “after discussions with our allies, OTAN He decided to go ahead.”
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