In the beginning of June NATO was conducting a defense exercise Saber Strike in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland with 18,000 soldiers. The exercise sought to strengthen defense in a geographically significant region: a narrow strip of land between NATO members Lithuania and Poland, which is restricted by Russia's Kaliningrad to the west and Belarus to the east. It was announced against the backdrop of many Russian exercises, contrary to Russian practice, the real number of participants did not exceed the announced figures, and it was much smaller than usual maneuvers on the Russian side.