NATO鈥橲 Baltic drills are part of the alliance鈥檚 preparations for a potential military clash with Russia, TASS news agency cited Russia鈥檚 Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying in remarks published on Wednesday.

鈥淲e assess NATO鈥檚 military activity as part of preparations for military clashes with Russia,鈥� TASS cited Grushko as saying.

鈥淚f we look at the focus of these exercises, the concept, the structure of the deployment of forces, the forces themselves, their quality, the tasks that are formulated for these exercises, then this is a fight against a comparable adversary,鈥� Grushko said according to TASS.

BALTOPS 鈥� NATO鈥檚 annual exercise in the Baltic Sea and the regions surrounding it 鈥� is being held this month.