Brussels, 18 January 2024 (dpa/MIA) - NATO plans to mobilize 90,000 soldiers for a manoeuvre aimed at deterring Russian aggression, in the biggest exercise staged by the alliance since the end of the Cold War.

According to information obtained by dpa on Thursday, the scenario for the Steadfast Defender exercise, which is due to start in Europe in February, is a Russian attack on allied territory that triggers Article 5 of the NATO treaty that enshrines the promise of collective defence.

The focus of the drills will be on alerting and deploying national and multinational land forces in the event of a Russian attack.

Article 5 has been invoked only once, in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks by al-Qaeda on the United States.

The largest post-Cold War NATO exercises were staged in 2018. Those drills, called Trident Juncture, took place largely in Norway and involved some 51,000 soldiers.

The British Ministry of Defence recently said that around 20,000 of its soldiers from the naval, air and land forces will be taking part in Steadfast Defender.

NATO's Baltic members - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - and Poland see themselves as front line states for potential Russian aggression.

Many on NATO's eastern flank fear they could one day face a similar fate to the people of Ukraine, who have suffered a grinding war with invading Russian forces for nearly two years.

NATO's highest military authority, the Military Committee, held a meeting in Brussels on Thursday.