The Finnish Navy has launched the annual multilateral naval drill Freezing Winds 2022.
The exercise will be conducted from November 22 to December 2 in and around the Gulf of Finland and the Archipelago Sea and is expected to involve 5,000 coastal and land troops and 23 surface combatants, including transport, service and support vessels.
The Freezing Winds drill will involve Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1), which comprises three naval vessels, one each from the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark, and Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group One (SNMCMG1), which consists of four warships from Germany and the Netherlands. The US is expected to contribute one Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and Poseidon aircraft, which will carry out maritime surveillance, as well as units of the US Marine Corps. Lastly, the lineup of the Freezing Winds 2022 will include two Visby-class corvettes and one Göteborg-class corvette from neighboring Sweden.
The formal goal of the drill is to train the international forces in joint operations in extreme weather conditions during the late autumn in the Finnish coast and Baltic Sea regions and exchange skills and techniques.
Finnish Navy Command Chief of Staff Commodore Jukka Anteroinen described the drill as a “unique opportunity” to rehearse demanding combat tasks in the harsh November conditions of the Baltic Sea, referring to the involvement of “international partners” as “very welcome addition” for the Finnish Navy.
The Finnish Navy employs 2,300 people, including coastal forces and coastal artillery, and trains about 4,300 conscripts each year.
In May, Finland applied for NATO membership jointly with Sweden under the pretext of a changed security environment following Moscow's special operation in Ukraine. This step terminated their lasting non-alignment policy. However, this move was hardly unexpected, as both countries have forged increasingly closer ties to the US-led alliance through a system joint drills and arms procurement, as well as partaking in overseas operations ranging from Africa to the Middle East, remaining non-aligned in name only.
Before filing their NATO bids, both countries broke yet another long-standing principle not to send arms to countries in conflict by providing numerous packages of assistance to Ukraine, ranging from heavy arms to military training.
Russian Foreign Ministry called Finland and Sweden’s NATO accession a “mistake with far-reaching implications,” envisaging a spike in overall military tensions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow viewed Finland and Sweden membership in NATO differently from Ukraine's since it has no territorial disputes with the Scandinavian countries. However, if Helsinki and Stockholm were to allow the deployment of contingents and weaponry of the military alliance in their respective countries, the situation will deteriorate, forcing Moscow to take appropriate countermeasures, the Russian president warned.