The NATO conducted large-scale drills in Norway, which signal that NATO is returning to the Cold War 2.0, Bloomberg reported. 

Trident Juncture military drills imagined an attack in which the western alliance was forced to respond with thousands of troops, ships, armor and airpower—fighting to stop an unnamed adversary intent on occupation or even annexation, the source noted.

According to the source, these drills did not include the use of nuclear weapons by the enemy. Although NATO officials pointed out that military exercises did not suggest a particular state as an adversary, the potential invader was clear.

Aleksandr Golts, a Russian military analyst who observed the NATO exercise, said that “if we discount the martians, there is no one else who can attack Norway apart from Russia.”

“The scenario and the sheer number of troops involved in both this and similar Russian exercises show that we are back to the Cold War-time military confrontation.”

NATO drills also fulfill a political goal - to signal Moscow that, despite the declared ambivalence of the current US administration, the status of NATO member is of great importance, said Janis Kazocins, an adviser to Latvia President Raimonds Vejonis, who served for decades in the British Army.