EU Says Will Start Major Civil-Military Exercise On Countering Hybrid Attacks Next Week

The European Union will launch on Monday a major civil-military crisis management exercise to test the member nations' capabilities to counter hybrid attacks, the EU External Action Service (EEAS) said.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2018) The European Union will launch on Monday a major civil-military crisis management exercise to test the member nations' capabilities to counter hybrid attacks, the EU External Action Service (EEAS) said.

"The European Union will begin the conduct of a major civil-military crisis management exercise 'EU-HEX-ML 18 (PACE)'. The aim of the exercise is to improve and enhance the EU's ability to respond to a complex crisis of a hybrid nature with an internal and an external dimension," the EEAS said.

According to the service, it is the first time that the EU nations will hold an exercise of such a scale, "testing their response capacities by reacting to fictitious high intensity hybrid attacks inside the European Union.

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"It will be run across all critical areas that can be affected by hybrid attacks, including energy, cyber, health, maritime, consular, Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and strategic communication," the EEAS clarified.

The drills are expected to involve experts from the European Commission, the EEAS, the General Secretariat of the Council, the European Border and Coastguard, Europol, as well as EU nations.

Moreover, Norway and Switzerland will also join the activities as a third country and an observer respectively.

This drills will be held in parallel with a NATO staff command post exercise, "to further develop interaction between both organizations."