British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is hosting a summit next week with Scandinavian and Baltic leaders, Russia's neighbors.
It will be held on the sidelines of one of NATO's largest military exercises since the Cold War, which will take place in Norway from Monday.
The maneuvers, dubbed “Exercise Cold Response”, will bring together more than 30,000 soldiers from 27 countries who have come to train in freezing temperatures.
To discover
LIVE - War in Ukraine: Russia says sanctions could cause the downing of the International Space Station
Read alsoLondon opens the door to Ukrainian refugees
In parallel, Boris Johnson will receive the leaders of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a coalition of ten states focused on security in northern Europe, in London on Tuesday, according to a statement from Downing Street.
"
European security has been shaken by Russia's attack on Ukraine, and alongside our partners, we will take action to ensure that we emerge stronger and more united than before
," explained the head of the British government, quoted in the press release.
"
Ensuring our resistance to (Vladimir) Putin's threats must go beyond the military aspect - together, alongside our partners in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, we must ensure that we are safe from Russian interference in our energy supplies, our economy and our values
,” he added.
"Freedom of movement"
The Joint Expeditionary Force, established in 2012, is made up of NATO members Britain, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Norway, to which s add Finland and Sweden, non-members of the Atlantic Alliance.
Read alsoNATO trains in Norway to rescue one of its own, against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine
Organizing its own military exercise in the Baltic Sea must demonstrate “
freedom of movement
” in a strategic area close to Russia.
As for next week's summit, JEF leaders are expected to agree there to an "
enhanced schedule
" of exercises in the Arctic, North Atlantic and Baltic Sea, according to the Downing Street statement.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/MKPN47JEBUDZRZALPGTTAHCT64.jpg)
