NATO’s Northern Viking Exercises Raise New Risks for Russia’s Arctic

Another round of NATO naval exercises began in the North Atlantic the day before yesterday. At first glance, there seems to be little reason to focus on them separately. One more exercise, one less — and all of them are taking place near our borders. Yet the maneuvers, known as Northern Viking, present a new and potentially threatening dimension for Russia and create additional risks for the Arctic. We have become accustomed to NATO conducting so many military exercises that it is sometimes difficult to tell where one ends and another begins. And they all come with impressive names. Yet these exercises have traditionally had what might be called limits to their expansion. Those limits are Russia's borders — maritime and land. NATO has moved so close to Russia that geographically there is almost nowhere left to go. There is, of course, room to increase the size and capabilities of its military groupings. But there is no longer much geographic room for further expansion unless direct military action is contemplated.