On November 18-December 3, 2021, a NATO maritime exercise was organized by the French Navy (Marine nationale) off the Mediterranean coast and along France's Atlantic seafront.

Code-named POLARIS 21, the large-scale simulation aimed to "mobilize all components of the French Navy, including its latest-generation assets, land and air assets from the French Army and Air Force, as well as combat ships and aircraft from France's partner nations: the United States, Spain, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom."…with an eye to serve as "laboratory" for tomorrow's warfare thanks to the integration and synchronization of effects in several fields and environments of conflict. POLARIS 21 will be conducted around high spectrum actions, corresponding to the future missions of the French Navy in a hardened strategic context. It thus completes the preparation of the naval air group before its next operational deployment, which will begin in February 2022. » (1)

The technical file goes a long way in describing a fictitious geopolitical environment which describes "Mercure" (the Russian Federation) as the main threat in this war-game simulation.

"Mercure is a huge country straddling North Asia and Europe that forms a federation of 16 autonomous regions with no direct access to the Mediterranean. The legislative power is represented by a parliament of 400 deputies elected by direct universal suffrage for 5 years. There are several political parties all represented in parliament. The executive branch headed by the head of government appointed by the president. The president elected for 6 years. Current president Virgo Medvetine has managed to stay in power for 20 years and has silenced his main opponents. He advocates a strong Mercure and exacerbates the nationalist feeling of the Catharist people…