Finland rehearses war with Russia as NATO deploys 25,000 troops for Arctic winter drill

A major NATO winter exercise launched in northern Finland on March 9 has emerged as one of the alliance’s most ambitious cold-weather drills along its northern flank to date.

Conducted under Norwegian command and running for approximately two weeks, the Cold Response 26 exercise brings together roughly 25,000 troops drawn from 14 NATO member states.

The exercise pursues three core objectives: reinforcing NATO’s northern flank, sharpening the joint operational capabilities of allied forces under severe winter conditions, and stress-testing rapid force deployment readiness.

Around 4,000 troops from the US, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Sweden are deploying onto Finnish soil for the exercise. A spokesperson for US Forces Europe underscored that the drill is designed to bolster the American and allied military footprint in the Arctic and to secure strategic dominance across the region.

Drills on the Russian border are now routine, not exceptional

NATO exercises on Finnish soil have ceased to be exceptional events — they are now a fixture on the military calendar. The Northern Strike 25 exercise, held in November 2025 approximately 100 kilometres from the Russian border, drew around 2,200 troops and 500 vehicles.

That exercise tested artillery operations under winter conditions and put allied interoperability through its paces. The exercise commander, Lieutenant Colonel Kimmo Ruotsalainen, described the combined cannon and mortar fire conducted during the drill as the largest artillery exercise in the history of northern Finland.

Nuclear ban lifted, landmine production resumes

In parallel with the exercises, Helsinki has moved sweeping changes to military doctrine to the top of its legislative agenda.

Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen announced plans to repeal legislation dating to the 1980s that prohibits the entry, transit, and storage of nuclear weapons on Finnish territory. Häkkänen argued that the existing statute has become obsolete and is incompatible with Finland’s NATO membership, stressing that any potential transit of nuclear munitions would be treated strictly as a defensive measure.

Finland has also announced that it has resumed production of anti-personnel landmines following its withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, which bans such weapons. The legislative changes accompanying that decision have simultaneously abolished the criminal penalties previously attached to the use of these munitions.

Finland abandoned decades of neutrality and joined NATO in the spring of 2023, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That accession extended the alliance’s land border with Russia by more than 1,300 kilometres, fundamentally redrawing the strategic depth of NATO’s eastern front.