Russian warships practiced anti-submarine maneuvers during other drills in the Norwegian Sea as tensions grew over the nation’s aggression towards Ukraine. A missile cruiser and a warship were involved in the drills, which involved hunting down fictitious enemy submarines. This comes on the heels of Russia’s announcement that they intend to conduct a series of naval drills into February. The drills will involve over 140 warships, 60 aircraft, and an estimated 10,000 troops and will occur in locations such as the Artic Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and off the coast of Ireland. 

Russia’s defense minister stated that during the drills, “sailors hunted down a notional enemy’s submarine using sonars and data from military pilots.” Members of the international community have raised concerns that these drills are coinciding with Russia massing troops on Ukraine’s border, but spokespeople from Moscow have denied that they plan to invade Ukraine. However, this denial has done little to assuage the fears of the West, particularly because Russia has never conducted naval drills of this magnitude before. Russia stated that all of their main naval formations would conduct drills “in all areas of their responsibility,” setting the stage for major naval movement. 

Russia’s sudden commitment to such large-scale naval exercises, when paired with the tensions mounting over the aggression they have shown towards Ukraine, does not point to a country that is even considering peaceful resolution and diplomatic avenues. Russia must not disregard the potential for peaceful negotiations; an invasion of Ukraine could kill as many as 50,000 civilians and lead to a refugee crisis, the New York Times reported on February 5th. 

Russia and Ukraine have a long and intertwined history, but this recent conflict seems to stem from Ukraine’s desire to join NATO, a Western intergovernmental military alliance. Ukraine was formerly a Soviet republic, and most of modern Ukraine came under Russian rule during Catherine the Great’s rule in the 18th century. Russian imperial policy attempted to counteract Ukrainian nationalism by imposing Russian language requirements and Pan-Slavism, a concept that Putin is fond of invoking. 

Russia’s naval drills are the actions of a nation planning on engaging in a violent conflict in the near future. Not only is Ukraine’s sovereignty threatened, but the lives of Ukrainian civilians are at risk, as is the stability of Eastern Europe as a whole.