MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2021) The Russian Northern Fleet said that its naval exercises in the Arctic was also monitored by NATO's reconnaissance aircraft and three military vessels.
Earlier in the day, the fleet's forces started to return to their bases after the drills.
"Maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft of the United States, Norway and Finland have flown up to 17 missions into the airspace of the Barents Sea and Finland's areas that border Russia," the fleet said in a statement on Wednesday.
The alliance also reportedly deployed Norwegian reconnaissance ship Marjata, UK hydrographic survey ship Echo and frigate Lancaster in the Barents Sea.
The exercises with the Arctic expedition groups are the final stage of the Northern Fleet's operational and combat training in 2021. The drills, which involved up to 8,000 people, about 800 pieces of military equipment and up to 50 ships, took place in the waters of the Barents and Kara, Laptev seas as well as at training grounds in the Murmansk Region and near the Dudinka port in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
