Amid the rising crisis in Ukraine, NATO has begun military drills in Estonia with a record high six thousand troops.
The three-week "Spring Storm" drills also include a cyber security team from France for the first time. In addition, Poland has sent three Sukhoi-22 attack aircraft and a missile defense system unit.
This year, military manoeuvres will be held in five out of fifteen Estonian counties, including southern and southeastern regions close to the border with Russia. Since April the 29th, Britain, France, and the US have been deploying troops to the Baltic region. And a group of NATO ships also arrived in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda on May the 2nd. US troops will stay in Estonia till the end of this year.