NATO holds submarine-hunting drills in Baltic

STOCKHOLM: Eight NATO countries have started five days of anti-submarine exercises in the Baltic sea and a top commander called the ultra-silent underwater vessels a constant “threat.”

Based in Sweden from Monday to Friday, the submarine-hunting drills also involve Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany and the Netherlands. The Baltic has become a key venue for the so-called war of “hybrid” tactics that Western nations blame on Russia.

Several thousand naval forces, submarines from Germany and Sweden, surface vessels from several countries and air patrols will take part in the staged hunts for submarines, the alliance said.

NATO has stepped up its naval presence in the Baltic, where, military experts say, submarine signals — the key to tracking vessels — can be more easily hidden in its shallow waters crisscrossed…