The Russian embassy in Oslo said: “Taking into account multiple statements of Norwegian officials about the absence of threat from Russia to Norway we would like to understand for what purposes is Norway so much willing to increase its military potential, in particular through stationing of American forces in Vaernes?”

The Norwegian government announced in a news release Monday that it had approved a “limited rotational force presence” of about 330 Marines, to be based in Vaernes, near where the Marine Corps has thousands of vehicles and other key pieces of gear stored year-round in climate-controlled caves.

USA and Norwegian officials celebrated the move, which they say will “have positive implications”, according to CNN.

The plan could see around 300 American special forces deployed at the Vaernes base near Trondheim, which lies around 600 miles from the frontier with Russian Federation.

“The United States are our most important ally and we have a near bilateral relationship that we wish to develop”, Defence Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said in a statement. “The defense of Norway is dependent on allied reinforcement and it is crucial for Norwegian security that our allies get the knowledge required to operate in Norway, together with Norwegian forces”.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation announced in July the deployment of four multinational battalions to Poland and the Baltic states to prevent what it called “Russian incursion”.

Norway’s government argues that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation troops are already training regularly in the country and that the deployment of troops does not equate to the opening of a permanent American base. A report called “The Coming Storm” claims that “the scenario included the speedy seizure of northern Norway, the Åland islands., the Swedish island of Gotland and the Danish island of Bornholm”. Norway has been a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member since 1949, but under a deal with Russian Federation it had prevously said it would not allow foreign troops on its land. “As the USA designs its national contributions across Europe, we want to have a very balanced approach”, Douglas Lute told a news conference.

“This US initiative is welcome and also fits well within ongoing processes in North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to increase exercises, training and interoperability within the Alliance”, she said.

The air-conditioned bunkers span much of central Norway and were used in the 1980s to store U.S. equipment during the Cold War.

The country’s Ministry of Defense announced Tuesday that the USA troops were “highly welcome” in Norway, one of the few North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members to share a border with Russian Federation.

(crcconnection)

Russia expressed surprise Friday about the mooted deployment of US troops in neighboring Norway.

“Taking into account multiple statements made by Norwegian officials about the absence of threat from Russia to Norway, we would like to understand why Norway is so much willing to increase its military potential, in particular through the stationing of American forces in Vaernes,” Maxime Gourov, the spokesman at the Russian embassy in Oslo said in an email sent to AFP.

Vaernes lies about 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the Russian-Norwegian frontier.

On October 10, the Norwegian defence ministry said its military and that of the United States were holding preliminary discussions about the possibility of such a deployment and about “additional training and storage.”

“It may be something that is carried out on a rotational basis… (but) there is no question of permanent deployment,” a ministry spokesman, Ann Kristin Salbuvik, told AFP.

The tentative discussions take place against a backdrop of increasing tensions between Russia and the West, notably over Ukraine and the conflict in Syria.

Also on October 10, the Norwegian newspaper Adresseavisen said the Pentagon wanted to station 300 US Marines at Vaernes and that this could take place in January.

The US has vast amounts of military equipment prepositioned in Norway, notably in tunnels dug into mountains.

“Having a rotational presence in Norway enhances the collective ability of our two forces to work together,” Niel Nelson, the US general in charge of the Marine Corps in Europe and Africa, was quoted as saying by American media this week.

Before joining NATO in 1949, Norway allayed Russian fears by undertaking not to open its territory to foreign combat troops so long as Norway was not attacked or threatened with attack.

This pledge was later amended to allow foreign troops to conduct manoeuvres in Norway.

“The policy of non-stationing (of foreign troops), which even withstood the test of the Cold War, has always been an advantage for Norway as a partner over other NATO countries,” said Gourov.

In July, NATO announced it would deploy, also on a rotational basis, four multinational battalions to Poland and to Baltic states to deter any Russian incursion.

(By Agence France-Presse/ defencetalk)

Yan Petrovsky was a mercenary in Donbas, fighting for pro-Russian forces.

29-year-old Yan Petrovsky, a militant from Rusich battalion of pro-Russian forces, detained in Norway – reports NRK. Police established that he has ties with far-right movement in the country. Petrovsky has lived in Norway since 2004 after Russia annexed Crimea and started the turmoil in Donbas, Petrovsky went to take part in military actions.

He boasted about his military experience in social media. On one of the photos, he poses near a burning body of a Ukrainian soldier.

The mercenary was detained according to the immigration law. He is accused of violating it by staying for too long outside the country.

Petrovsky is also considered a threat to Norway state. Now the court decides whether Petrovsky will be deported from Norway.

(uatoday)

TANKS, artillery and gear for 15,000 US Marines is being hidden in secret cave systems on the border with Russia, it can be revealed.

Thousands of pieces of military gear is sitting ready beneath Norway stashed away in classified climate controlled caves knocking on the front door of Vladimir Putin.

US Marine Corps this week announced they were planning on stationing 300 troopers to the Scandinavian country as relations plunge between Washington and Moscow.

Battle-ready soldiers will join the host of US military gear – enough to fully arm a force of 15,000 – sitting on the border between NATO and Russia.

Gigantic cave facilities beneath Norway are relics of the Cold War, and were earlier this year packed with new equipment amid a gigantic NATO drill dubbed Cold Response.

Six of the secret tunnel networks exist scattered throughout central Norway.

The nation shares a 122 mile long border with Russia and was a massively militarised frontier when the US feuded with the Soviet Union.

Major General Niel E. Nelson, commander of US Marine Corps Forces Europe, said the new plan for deployment would see American forces on a “limited rotational presence”.

He added: “If approved by the Norwegian government, a Marine Corps presence in Norway will increase NATO’s ability to rapidly aggregate and employ forces in northern Europe.”

Earlier this year, the Marines announce they were restocking them as tensions flared between Russia and NATO over the annexation of Crimea.

At the time, Colonel William Bentley said: “Any gear that is forward-deployed both reduces cost and speeds up our ability to support operations in crisis, so we’re able to fall in on gear that is ready-to-go and respond to whatever that crisis may be.”

Relations have continued to worsen as Russia and the US reach conflict risk levels “more dangerous” than the Cold War as politicians warn the civil war in Syria could erupt into “global war”.

Norway’s Chief of Defence, Admiral Haakon Bruun Hanssen previously warned Russia has shown “they are willing to use military force to achieve political ambitions”.

Russia’s mighty Northern Fleet has been on the move this week as the a flotilla cruises down the coast of Norway bound for Britain.

The Royal Navy remains on high alert, but Moscow military experts mocked the Brit fleet as “weak and “tiny”.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/555170/Russia-War-Threat-US-Marine-Corps-Norway-Secret-Caves-Tanks-Artillery-World-War-3

Udaloy I class anti-submarine destroyer

The Norwegian military said Tuesday it had taken photos of a Russian fleet, including its flagship aircraft carrier, which were shadowed off its coast as they headed for the eastern Mediterranean.

Based in Severomorsk in the Barents Sea in the Arctic, the carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and seven other vessels were photographed on Monday in international waters off Norway, Major Elisabeth Eikeland, spokeswoman of the National Joint Headquarters in the Norwegian army, told AFP.

“We have been informed that they are en route to the Mediterranean,” Eikeland said.

“It’s not every day that so many ships sail together off Norway,” she said.

The carrier was shadowed by a Norwegian navy frigate, with a vessel from another NATO member primed to take over escort duties afterwards, Eikeland said.

“The tone is good” with the Russian ships, Eikeland said.

Russia announced on Saturday that the Soviet-era Admiral Kuznetsov, its only aircraft carrier, was to reinforce Moscow’s military presence in the eastern Mediterranean, where its forces are conducting a bombing campaign in Syria.

The Admiral Kuznetsov is traveling with the Pyotr Veliky battlecruiser, the Vice Admiral Kulakov destroyer and large anti-submarine ships, the defence ministry in Moscow said.

On Tuesday, Moscow announced an immediate halt to raids by Russian and Syrian air forces on Aleppo as a gesture of “goodwill”.

The Kremlin said this would enable the evacuation of civilians from rebel-held areas of the city, which has been bombed intensively during the past month.

(defence talk)

The Ministries of Defense of the United States and Norway are discussing the possibility of deploying U.S. forces in Scandinavian countries bordering the Russian Federation, Deutsche Welle reported.

“The capacities for additional drills, stocks and such sort of things are evaluated in the Armed Forces,” the Ministry of Defense of Norway noted, adding that it was a long-standing wish of the United States. It is reported that the Pentagon wants to deploy 300 U.S. marines near Vaernes in Trondheim. This part of the border between Norway and Russia is about 200 kilometers long and located approximately 1,000 kilometers from the Arctic Circle.

The Ministry noted that military units can be deployed on a rotational basis, thus avoiding issues of permanent relocation. The plan is still at in the early stages of development and was discussed at the departmental level but not at a political level.

Earlier, the Norwegian authorities declared the start of modernization of the Army for protection against Russia. U.S. intelligence confirmed the reports of Estonian media that Russia has deployed Iskander missile system units within a 500-kilometer radius of Kaliningrad region between Poland and Lithuania and suggested that these are drills and political gestures of displeasure towards the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

“These units of missile forces were repeatedly deployed to the Kaliningrad region and will be deployed within combat training of the Armed Forces,” the official representative of the Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov, commented on the situation. That evening, Estonia and Finland accused Russian military aircraft of new violations of their air space.

The Iskander missile system began to enter into service in 2016. Each system is equipped with two high-speed missiles designed for destruction of ground targets at a distance of up to 500 kilometers.

(uawire)