In a recent analysis for the paper, the official organ of the French political party of the same name, Bierre warned that "when we talk about the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, only in reverse, this is not just rhetoric. Nearly 60,000 soldiers of NATO and allied countries have been participating in four series of maneuvers in the Baltic countries, Romania and Poland."
"The most provocative among these exercises were the recently completed Anaconda-16 drills in Poland," the journalist suggested. "Moreover, they were not organized by NATO, but by Poland itself, which the British and Americans have been inciting against Warsaw's old Russian enemy. In total, these exercises involved around 31,000 troops from 24 countries, making them the largest the country has seen since the collapse of the Warsaw Pact in 1991."
As if that weren't enough to escalate tensions between Moscow and NATO, Anaconda-16 is being complemented by Baltops-16, Saber Strike-16, and Swift Response-16, the latter involving Germany and Poland. "The chart published by the Department of Defense...speaks for itself," Bierre noted.
Comment: Further reading: US destroyer maneuvers dangerously close to Russian patrol boat in Mediterranean