Source: UK Defence Journal
The Argentine Government has sent a formal protest after it was announced that military exercises were to be held on the Falkland Islands.
Exercises are scheduled to take place on and around the Falkland Islands between October 15th and 29th, the exercises will include the firing of air defence missiles.
The protests from Argentina come not long after Argentina staged its own military exercise in August at a training area near Buenos Aires, meant to represent parts of the Falkland Islands. Operation Maipu involved troops, helicopters, armoured mortar carriers and self-propelled howitzers.
The Argentine government said in a statement:
“Argentina rejects these exercises in Argentine territory illegitimately occupied by the United Kingdom, which does not acknowledge United Nations and other international bodies’ resolutions, which call on both sides to resume negotiations for a peaceful and definitive solution to the sovereignty dispute, as well as abstaining from unilateral actions in the territories and maritime spaces under dispute.”
A similar complaint was filed in 2016, when exercises included launch of Rapier Anti-Air missiles in the Falklands.
Argentina has long claimed sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, which it calls the Malvinas. The overwhelming majority of the islands 3,000 inhabitants previously voted to remain a British overseas territory.