They joked that, if nothing else, the Canadians could teach this hockey-mad nation how to defeat their Russian neighbours on the ice. For its part, NATO put 31,000 troops from 24 countries including Canada into the field in Poland last month for Operation Anakonda. Troops guarding the gate were joyous at the news that Canadians would soon live among them. Russian generals routinely call snap exercises involving 80,000 troops at a time in the northwestern corner of their country. Its heavily militarized enclave in Kaliningrad is only 250 kilometres north of where western leaders have gathered at the NATO summit.

Source: National Post July 08, 2016 17:26 UTC