Paris, Jan. 22, 2022 (EIRNS) – The US announced the decision to hold NATO naval drills, which will involve the participation of the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier, a day after Russia said it would demonstrate its own naval capabilities from the Pacific to the Atlantic Sea, involving 140 warships and 10,000 servicemen, over the months of January and February.
In a surprise decision, starting Monday, NATO partners, including the United States, kick off the 12-day maritime exercise “Neptune Strike '22” in the Mediterranean Sea, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said during a briefing today. The maritime exercise didn’t appear on a list, published December 14, of the scheduled exercises for the year on the NATO website.
Kirby told reporters on Friday that tensions with Moscow had played a part in discussions about conducting the naval drills, but the NATO “exercise itself is not designed against the kinds of scenarios that might happen with respect to Ukraine.” “There was due consideration about — given tensions right now — our exercise posture. And after all that consideration and discussion with our NATO allies, the decision was made to move ahead,” Kirby said. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the decision was to “reassure” Europeans amid tensions with Russia.