Tens of thousands of troops from 27 nations are this week participating as NATO and partner countries Finland and Sweden have kicked off the largest military exercise inside the Arctic Circle since the 1980ties.
The large-scale Norwegian-led war games Cold Response was planned years before Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine, but current tensions between Moscow and the West put an extra shadow into the security picture, also in the far north of Europe. […]
On Sunday, a Norwegian maritime patrol aircraft discovered two Russian navy vessels sailing north of Finnmark region in the Barents Sea. “Pyotr Veliky” is the Russian navy’s largest combat ship armed with several tens of cruise missiles, surface-to-air missiles, and other weapons. The battlecruiser normally serves as a command ship when the Northern Fleet conducts exercises in the Barents Sea north of the Kola Peninsula.
It is several years since last time the nuclear-powered battle cruiser sailed into the Norwegian Sea.
“The two Russian Northern Fleet vessels are far out from the coast, sailing international waters,” says Lt. Col. Ivar Moen, spokesperson with the Norwegian Armed Forces. […]
The Russian activated NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) danger area is west of Lofoten archipelago and outside the main exercise area of NATO’s Cold Response. The danger alert does not indicate what kind of weapons will be used in what is marked as “firing area.” Läs artikel
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