Just before sending troops into eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, other Russian military forces were busy testing weapons systems northeast of Norway in the Barents Sea. The weekend military exercises had been announced in advance, though, and Norwegian officials insisted they will “still try to cooperate with Russia” in the Arctic.
There were some complaints from fishing vessels in the area, but both Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt stressed that the pre-announced exercises “were carried out in the normal manner.” Both also claimed Norway followed the exercises closely and there were no big surprises, even though they took place over a much larger area than normal.
Norway and NATO will also be conducting annual winter exercises in the far north next month, and have both announced them and invited Russian officials to attend. Huitfeldt and Støre have repeatedly stressed how they want to maintain “low tension” in what they call the “High North,” where the two countries share a border. They’ve condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognize regions of eastern Ukraine as independent breakaway republics, however, and were announcing new punitive measures against Russia Tuesday afternoon.
newsinenglish.no staff
