About 40 warships of the countries-members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) arrived yesterday in the capital of Sweden, Stockholm, to participate in the BALTOPS 22 maneuvers, which will start today in the Baltic Sea.

Speaking to reporters, Swedish Defense Minister Peter Holtkefes said that his country and Finland would also join the maneuvers, given that what is happening in the region can be defined as a “new cold war” or “new iron curtain”, and indicated that “what is happening is a struggle between authoritarian states, democratic Europe and NATO states sends a signal about the security of the region through the ships mobilized in Stockholm.

An earlier NATO statement indicated that 14 NATO member countries and two NATO partner countries, more than 45 ships and more than 75 aircraft, and about 7,000 soldiers will take part in the 51st edition of the major naval exercise, which will take place from 5 to June 17th.

Turkey, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Great Britain and the USA also participate in the maneuvers.

This year Sweden will host BALTOPS 22, the first of which started in 1972.

BALTOPS is an annual exercise that demonstrates NATO’s commitment to maintaining peace and security in the region by training a group of international forces capable of responding quickly in a crisis, the alliance said.