{"id":23859,"date":"2018-09-04T16:56:05","date_gmt":"2018-09-04T16:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/09\/04\/marines-are-on-swedens-coast-preparing-for-largest-nato-exercise-as-russia-grumbles\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:35:26","slug":"marines-are-on-swedens-coast-preparing-for-largest-nato-exercise-as-russia-grumbles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2018\/09\/04\/marines-are-on-swedens-coast-preparing-for-largest-nato-exercise-as-russia-grumbles\/","title":{"rendered":"Marines are on Sweden\u2019s coast preparing for largest NATO exercise as Russia grumbles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

About 75 U.S. Marines are training with Swedish counterparts<\/a> to conduct raids and amphibious operations in Sweden\u2019s complicated coastal terrain, which consists of thousands of small islands known as the Stockholm archipelago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exercise, dubbed Archipelago Endeavor, is a run up to one of NATO\u2019s largest exercises in more than a decade, known as Trident Juncture, slated to kick off later this fall. The Norway-hosted exercise<\/a> is expected to include nearly 40,000 NATO forces and dozens of ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But views from Moscow see the impending large-scale offensive and defensive NATO maneuvers in the Scandinavian region as a potential header for a war with Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe troops and equipment of the alliance members and individual partner countries will be used on land, at sea and in the air to improve the skills of defensive and, crucially, offensive operations in the northern latitudes in case of a \u2018high intensity\u2019 conflict with a \u2018comparable enemy,\u2019\u201d Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an Aug. 30 briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\t