(Dan Tri) – The Kremlin announced that Russia considers NATO a `threat` and Moscow is taking measures to deal with this military alliance.

Soldiers participating in NATO exercises in Estonia (Photo: AFP).

`Of course NATO is a threat to us, that’s how we treat them and we constantly take appropriate measures to deal with them,` Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Mr. Peskov accused NATO of `continuously moving military infrastructure to Russia’s borders over the past decades.`

Commenting on NATO’s Steadfast Defender 2024 exercise, Mr. Peskov said NATO has always been considered a `tool of confrontation` controlled by the US.

`This tool continues to play its role and of course this is a threat to us,` the Kremlin spokesman emphasized.

About 90,000 soldiers from 31 NATO member countries and Sweden will participate in exercise Steadfast Defender 2024. This is NATO’s largest exercise since the 1988 Reforger exercise during the Cold War.

The exercise began last week with the goal of simulating NATO’s response to an attack from an adversary such as Russia.

1,100 combat vehicles, including 133 tanks and 533 infantry fighting vehicles, along with more than 50 naval ships and 80 helicopters, drones and fighter jets will participate in the exercise.

Steadfast Defender 2024 will consist of a series of individual exercises and take place in an area extending from North America to NATO’s eastern flank, near the Russian border.

The exercise has more than doubled in size since it was announced last year and is clearly planned to prepare for a conflict scenario with Russia.

According to a statement from NATO, the goal of the exercise is to `test and refine NATO’s defense plans to strengthen Europe’s defense capabilities against a near-peer adversary.`

Although Russia was not named in the exercise announcement, NATO made clear in its 2022 Strategic Concept, a document that identifies the security challenges facing the military bloc, that `Russia poses a

NATO’s conduct of military exercises comes as some officials from member states, including Britain, Germany and Estonia, are urging the bloc to prepare for a full-scale military confrontation.

Russia has vehemently denied any plans to attack NATO, calling the claims a `hoax`.