NATO began with its Trident Juncture on Oct. 25, a combat drill that it's the biggest the Alliance has conducted since the end of the Cold War. All 29 NATO allies including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, and Portugal are participating.
The combat drill would make use of around 65 warships, 250 aircraft, 10,000 military vehicles, and 50,000 military personnel from the 29 allies. Since August, there were about 180 flights, 60 ships transporting military arsenal were arriving at 27 different locations across Norway from military bases as far away as California.
Admiral James Foggo would command the combat drill aboard the USS Mount Whitney. The United States would also deploy its aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman.
The Trident Juncture is taking place amid U.S. President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with the former Soviet Union - a move objected by the European Union.
To persuade Washington against pulling out from the treaty, the EU was reportedly compelled to buy more weapons from the United States and increase their financial contributions to NATO according to Mario Borghezio, a European Parliament member who spoke with Russia's Sputnik.
The EU would reportedly try to negotiate with Trump, by spending more on NATO or at least spending an additional 2 percent of GDP per year for all NATO members, Sputnik reported.
The Trident Juncture would play around a scenario where the sovereignty of one of the Allies was threatened by an armed aggression from a hypothetical enemy. In this scenario, all 29 NATO members would come together to defend the attacked ally against the enemy.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the Alliance has notified Russia that it is welcome to observe the combat drill. It was not immediately clear whether the Russian side agreed to the invitation but CBC is reporting that Moscow was displeased about the war game.
Relations between NATO and Russia soured since 2014 when the latter was accused by the Alliance of illegal annexation of Crimea.
Responding about the Trident Juncture, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said NATO's military activities near Russia's borders have reached an extremely concerning level. He described the current wargame as "stimulating offensive military action."
Shoigu's reaction comes even after Russia conducted a similar combat drill with the same magnitude in September. The Vostok 2018 was dubbed as Russia's biggest military display since 1981.
The drill involved 300,000 troops and was participated by China and Mongolia.
