section_path: NATO Secretary General (2014–2024)/2017
section_name: 2017
paragraph_text: 2017
  
  In August 2017 the last NATO Certification Exercise of the four multinational battlegroups in the Baltic partners was conducted. Canada leads the battlegroup in Latvia. Germany leads the battlegroup in Lithuania. The United Kingdom leads the battlegroup in Estonia. The United States leads the battlegroup in Poland. This " NATO Enhanced Forward Presence " was the result of the 2016 Warsaw summit and much prior planning by Stoltenberg.
  
  In September 2017, Stoltenberg warned that Russia has used big military exercises, including Zapad 2017 exercise in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and Belarus, "as a disguise or a precursor for aggressive military actions against their neighbours."